Third quarter powers Lady Indian win over Raiders

COLUMBUS – The McCook Community College women improved to 3-0 in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference with a strong third quarter en route to a 70-52 win Monday over Central Community College.

The Lady Indians led just 36-33 at halftime. The two-teams were tied seven times in the first 20 minutes with seven lead changes

“Central came out and played a great first half,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “These games are tough after break. We just played them last week, so getting everyone ready as individuals you have to dig deep to push yourself. I thought we finally figured that out in the third quarter.

MCC stormed out to a 23-5 advantage in the third period and stretched the lead to 23 points with 9:26 left to play. 

“We finally got going and made shots and we were able to get into our defense,” said Pritchett. “We communicated and committed to our way of doing things.”

MCC shot 36.8 percent from the field, made eight of 20 shots from the 3-point line (40 percent) but went just 10 of 20 from the free-throw line (50 percent). The Lady Indians were credited with 19 assists.

“We shared the ball really well tonight, made the extra pass and had timely cuts to the basket,” said Pritchett.

Redshirt sophomore Natalie Harmata (Sydney, Australia) tied her season-high with 20 points to lead all scorers. She made eight of 14 shots from the field and went three-for-three at the free-throw line and her eight third-quarter points helped MCC build the lead.

“Nat was a big part of that third quarter where we got our offense going,” said Pritchett. “She just has a knack for finding open gaps and getting around the rim for easy shots.”

Irene Fernandez Pavesio (Asturias, Spain) sophomore tranfer from Miami-Dade, scored a season-high 16 points and brought down six rebounds.

“Irene had one of her better making shots and getting to the free throw line,” said Pritchett.

Sophomore Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) scored 10 points, freshman Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) led MCC with seven assists to go along with six rebounds, four steals and seven points and freshman Carolina Garcia Perdomo (Islas Canarias, Spain) dished out six assists and scored five points.

Freshman Jada Kemm (Henderson, Colo.) scored seven points off the bench with five rebounds and freshman Miriam Wahlqvist (Odakra, Sweden) contributed five points and four rebounds.

The Lady Indians held a 31-30 rebound edge, turned the ball over 18 times and forced 27 Central turnovers, converting them into 32 points. MCC held a 34-12 advantage in the paint with the MCC bench outscoring the Raiders 12-5.

Central falls to 1-11 with their eight-straight loss. The Raiders are 0-2 in the Nebraska Conference.

MCC completes the half-way mark of the NCCAC schedule at 3-0 and won’t play another conference game until Jan. 26 when they host Southeast Community College for a Sunday matchup at 2 p.m.

This game was the first of 10 straight games on the road for MCC. The Lady Indians (7-3) close out the fall semester with a pair of weekend tournaments in Wyoming. On Friday MCC is at Cheyenne to play Laramie County Community College (5-6) at 6:30 p.m. then travel to Torrington Saturday for a 3 p.m. game with Eastern Wyoming (5-6).

“We are on the road again for a tough weekend in Wyoming,” said Pritchett. “It's an opportunity for us to continue to better ourselves.”

The following weekend MCC is in Riverton for the Rustler/Mustang Classic taking on Central Wyoming (3-10) Dec. 13 and Western Wyoming (3-4) Dec. 14.

Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including livestream links, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com 

NEBRASKA COMMUNITY COLLEGE
ATHLETIC CONFERENCE STANDINGS
                                W-L      PCT    OVERALL
McCook CC       3-0     1.000       7-3
North Platte        0-1       .000       6-3
Central CC         0-2        .000      1-11
Southeast CC    0-0       .000       4-7
-

NCCAC RESULTS
Nov. 5 – McCook 57, North Platte 56 (at McCook)

Nov. 26 – McCook 67, Central CC 40 (at McCook)

Dec. 2 – McCook 70, Central CC 52 (at Columbus)

REMAINING NCCAC SCHEDULE
Jan 21 – Southeast CC at North Platte, 5 p.m.

Jan. 25 – North Platte at Central CC, 2 p.m.
Jan. 26 – Southeast CC at McCook, 2 p.m.

Feb. 1 – Central CC at Southeast CC, 2 p.m.

Feb. 4 – McCook at North Platte, 5 p.m.

Feb. 8 – North Platte at Southeast CC, 2 p.m.

Feb. 9 – McCook at Southeast, 2 p.m.

Feb. 15 – Central CC at North Platte, 2 p.m.

Feb. 22 – Southeast CC at Central CC, 2 p.m.