Lady Indians top Trinidad State for 18th win

The McCook Community College women overcame a slim half-time deficit Friday to down Trinidad State 66-56 at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

“I thought we defended really well in the second half. We put them on the free-throw line too much for my liking,” said Pritchett. “But overall we defended really, really well.”

Trinidad State outscored MCC from the 3-point line by 18 points in the first half and got 19 first-half points from Violeta Rojas to lead MCC at the half 32-31.

“I wasn’t too happy that we didn’t guard her better, but I thought we did that in the second half,” said Pritchett. “It wasn’t by design, but Madara Lipeniece played her really well in that second half and we got team defense, we rebounded well and we guarded well.”

The Lady Trojans shot 20.6 percent from the field in the second half and made just three of 18 shots from the 3-point line (16.7 percent) after making seven of 21 in the first half (33.3 percent).

The coach said with this being the last weekend of the regular season, there were lots of different emotions floating in the air not only for sophomores but for also for freshmen.

“Also knowing we are a second seed going into the Region IX tournament maybe led to us playing a little loose in that first half, but we got to where we needed to in that second half,” he said.

MCC outscored TSJC 14-9 in the third quarter and 21-15 in the fourth quarter.

“We rushed some shots offensively, and took some threes in the first half instead of pushing the paint more and over-dribbled three or four times, but we changed it in the second half and made the adjustments we needed to,” said Pritchett.

MCC shot 37 percent from the field for the game, made two of 18 shots from distance (11.1 percent) and went 12 of 19 from the line (63.2 percent). MCC held a 50-33 rebound edge and turned the ball over 15 times.

Trinidad State shot 25 percent for the game and 25.6 from the 3-point line and after making seven of eight free throws in the second half finished at 12 for 16 for the game (75 percent).

Sophomore Natalie Harmata (Sydney, Australia) led MCC with 15 points. Sophomore Irene Fernandez Pavesio (Miami-Dade, Asturias, Spain) scored 11 points and led MCC with 12 rebounds while freshman Peyton Cox (Wauneta) came off the bench to score 14 points with seven rebounds.

Sophomore Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) scored six points, grabbed seven boards with five assists. Freshman Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) scored nine points and had five rebounds.

The Lady Trojans finish at 4-6 in the Region IX South Division standings, tied for third-place with Lamar. They go to 8-18 on the season.

MCC improves to 7-2 in the standings and 18-11 overall.

The Lady Indians had already clinched second place behind Western Nebraska in the south standings. The top two teams in the south as well as the top two teams in the north receive a bye for next weekend’s first round of play-in games for the Region IX tournament. MCC will open the tournament the following weekend in Scottsbluff against the third seed in the north.

MCC will play their final regular season game Saturday against Otero at 2 p.m. Four sophomores will be honored prior to the game.

“We’re excited about that and hope to finish the regular season with two wins at home,” said Pritchett.

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