MCC women down Trinidad State at home 67-53.

The McCook Community College women’s basketball team picked up a 67-53 win over Trinidad State in Region IX play at home Friday.

Despite the fact Trinidad is winless on the season, 0-25, MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett said the Trojans are a team that hasn’t given up on the season and is still fighting and pressing teams.

“Trinidad has been playing well as of late, they’ve been keeping games tight,” said Pritchett. “I thought they played well, and we were able to withstand some runs and are lucky to escape with the win and proud that we were able to do that.”

MCC emerged from the first quarter with a 15-5 lead but Trinidad State came on strong in the second quarter. MCC had a 19-15 second quarter advantage.

“We have to execute better we were at times got complacent offensively and defensively when we got up by 15 points,” said Pritchett. “We have to do a better job of execution on our side.”

MCC shot 41.2 percent from the field in the first half but were just four of nine from the free-throw line. For the game the Lady Indians shot 42.1 percent from the floor, made four of 15 shots from the arc (26.7 percent) and outrebounded Trinidad State 41-29.

“We did a good job of rebounding and getting to the free throw line,” said Pritchett. “We weren’t real great in the first half but made 11 of 12 in the second half and that was an emphasis at halftime – to get to the line, attack and be physical.”

MCC finished the game making 15 of 21 free throws (71.4 percent).

MCC had four players in double-figures.

Sophomore Gemma Gruettner Bacoul (Berlin, Germany) scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Noa Iglesias Chorda (sophomore, Barcelona, Spain) scored 13 points and had nine rebounds. Sophomore Audra Vine (Thornton, Colo.) scored 12 points and sophomore Rebecca Dunn (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored 10 points.

Freshman Hanne Alvarez Verdaguer (Barcelona, Spain) scored six points off the bench and Pritchett was also pleased with freshman Bri Hunter (Roswell, Ga.) off the bench,

“Hanna came off the bench and gave us some great minutes and Bri gave us some great production in the first half with limited time on the court,” said Pritchett.

MCC improves to 15-13 overall and 4-5 in the Region IX south standings.

On Saturday MCC will close out the regular season against Otero Junior College at 2 p.m. Five sophomores will be honored prior to the game. The Rattlers are in second place in the region at 7-2 and 11-16 overall.

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