No. 25 NJC downs MCC women 70-56
The 25th ranked Northeastern Junior College women handed McCook Community College a 70-56 setback Saturday. The Plainswomen are now one win away from winning the Region IX South division.
“We played a really good three quarters of basketball and then let things slip away in the fourth,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett.
The game was tied at 8-8 with 4:29 left in the first period but NJC opened with a 17-10 lead at the end of the quarter.
NJC stretched the lead to 22-10 with 7:46 left in the half but MCC had their best scoring quarter of the night in the second period and the 18-14 advantage pulled the Lady Indians to within three points of the lead at the half, 31-28.
There were four ties in the game and five lead changes. MCC went up 32-31 two minutes into the third quarter and led again 34-33 with 6:59 left in the period, for the final time in the game.
The Plainswomen led after three quarters 48-44 then outscored MCC 22-12 in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we executed really well, we just let them make more plays than us the last quarter,” said Pritchett.
Three MCC sophomores scored in double figures. Gemma Gruettner Bacoul (Berlin, Germany) led the way with 19 points, Audra Vine (Thornton, Colo.) poured in 18 and Rebecca Dunn (Colorado Springs, Colo.) scored 11.
“Audra made some big shots for us throughout the game, but especially that first half when Gemma got into foul trouble,” said Pritchett.
MCC shot 43.5 percent from the field, made six of 16 shots from distance (37.5 percent), and went 10 of 14 from the three-throw line (71.4 percent). The Lady Indians turned the ball over 15 times.
The Plainswomen shot 45.8 percent from the field, made nine of 27 3-pointers (33.3 percent) and made 17 of 23 free throws (73.9 percent). NJC outrebounded MCC 30-22 and had nine turnovers.
NJC improves to 24-3 on the season and 6-1 in the south division of Region IX.
MCC goes to 14-11 overall and 3-4 in the south standings. The Lady Indians are on the road Tuesday for a Nebraska conference game at North Platte.
The next home game will be Friday at 5:30 p.m. against Western Nebraska.
Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com.
