Lady Indians open with win over Lancers
The McCook Community College women’s basketball team opened the regular season at home Friday with a 49-44 win over Eastern Wyoming.
MCC overcame a 10-point deficit in the second quarter, trailed at the half 32-26 but held the Lancers to 12 points in the second half and broke open a tight game in the final four minutes of the game.
“It might not have been the prettiest first coaching win of the year for any of my teams, but a win is a win,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “We came out strong, had a lull, fought back and came back strong in the second half after turning the ball over our first two possession of the second half,” said Pritchett.
MCC turned the ball over 19 times in the first 20 minutes of the game then had just eight in the final 18 minutes of the game. The Lady Indians struggled at the line missing 11 first half free throws (13 of 24 percent) and gave up nine offensive rebounds.
“We settled down and just made plays, it wasn’t pretty and at halftime we talked about the things we weren’t doing well,” said Pritchett. “We did a nice job on the offensive boards in the second half getting 12 and took better shots and held them to five offensive rebounds and all those things helped.”
Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany) led MCC with 13 points including some key points in the final 1:31 of the game. Sophomore Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) scored 8 points and grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds.
MCC held a 53-38 edge on the glass. The Lady Indians had 17 offensive rebounds led by sophomore Miriam Wahlqvist (Helsingborg, Sweden) who had five on the offensive end and five on the defensive end and four points.
MCC got nine points and eight rebounds from the freshman post duo of Stephanie Nnabuihe (freshman, Newbridge, Ireland) and Claudia Serrador Cortazar (Trapagaran, Spain). Nnabuihe had four points and four boards while Serrador Cortazar had four and four.
Eastern Wyoming shot 21.9 percent from the field, made just two of 20 treys and went 14 of 20 from the line (70 percent.). The Lancers turned the ball over 25 times.
MCC shot 27.1 percent from the field made three of 11 shots from the arc and went 20 or 36 from the line (55.6 percent). The Lady Indians had 29 turnovers.
“We’ve got continue to improve, make free throws, stop fouling – all little things we can fix but I’m really proud of how we gutted it out, to get the win,” said Pritchett.
The Lady Indians take the court again Saturday at 2 p.m. when Laramie County Community College comes to the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.
Up-to-date information about MCC women’s basketball including livestream links for home games, schedule, statistics, rosters, photos and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com