Casper women hand MCC 82-65 loss in quarterfinals
CASPER, Wyo. – Casper College downed the McCook Community College women Thursday in quarter-final action of the Region IX Tournament. The No. 16 Thunderbirds beat MCC 82-65.
This was the ninth straight win for No. 16 Casper, host of the tournament and they improve to 11-1 in their home gym, Erickson T-Bird Gymnasium.
The Lady Indians came out tough to start the game and traded leads for much of the first quarter. MCC led 8-7 midway through the first period and the teams were tied at 14 with less than a minute left, but Casper hit a 3-pointer with 21.9 seconds left and then grabbed a rebound off a missed MCC 3-pointer and went the length of the court to put in a layup at the buzzer to hold a 19-14 lead after 10 minutes.
“I thought we competed hard in the first quarter,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett.
Trailing 21-17, two minutes into the second period, the Lady Indians got some offensive spark off the bench from freshman Hanne Alvarez Verdaguer (Barcelona, Spain) who hit a 3-pointer with 8:06 left in the half, to cut the Casper lead to 21-20. After the T-Birds hit a pair of free-throws on their possession, Verdaguer drove the lane on MCC’s next possession and scored a basket then stole the ball in the in the MCC offensive end and hit a layup to give the Lady Indians a 24-23 lead with 7:05 left in the half.
“Then we had a lull in that second quarter,” said Pritchett. “They went up double digits and we just couldn't recover from there.”
The T-Birds outscored MCC 21-5 over the final seven minutes of the second quarter and led 44-29 at halftime. Casper outscored MCC 25-15 in the second quarter and 20-12 in the third quarter.
MCC responded with a 24-18 advantage in the final 10 minutes of the game.
“There wasn't any quit tonight in this team,” said Pritchett. “Casper has a really good team, and made big shot after big shot.”
The T-Birds shot 47.5 percent from the field, made 12 of 23 shots from distance (52.2 percent) and went 14 of 20 from the free-throw line (70 percent). Casper out-rebounded MCC 32-25.
MCC shot 52 percent from the field, made six of 15 shots from the 3-point line (40 percent) and went just seven of 16 from the line (43.8 percent).
“This was probably our worst game at the free-throw line, which is uncharacteristic for this team that was eighth in the country in percentage going into the game,” said Pritchett.
Sophomore Gemma Gruettner Bacoul (Berlin, Germany) closed out her career with a team-best 19 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Susan Sizman (Aarhus, Denmark) scored 13 points. Noa Iglesias Chorda (sophomore, Barcelona, Spain) scored seven points and sophomore Audra Vine (Thornton, Colo.) had four rebounds and two points.
“I'm so proud of this group and so thankful for our sophomores,” said Pritchett. “You never prepare for these moments but this team battled all year and I couldn't be a more proud coach,” said Pritchett.
Verdaguer and freshman Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) both scored nine points off the bench and Carlota Aliaga Alonso (freshman Valencia, Spain) had four points and four rebounds in a starting role.
MCC finishes the season at 17-15. This was the 15th all-time meeting between the two schools and Casper goes to 14-1 all-time against McCook.
Casper improves to 26-5 and will play Otero (15-16) in the second semifinal Friday at 8 p.m. Western Wyoming (15-16) will play Northeastern JC (28-3) in the 6 p.m. quarterfinal game.
Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com.
WOMEN’S REGION IX TOURNAMENT
March 8 FIRST-ROUND GAMES (South)
McCook 48, Lamar CC 43 (at McCook)
Western Nebraska 100, Trinidad State 51 (at Scottsbluff)
March 8 FIRST-ROUND GAMES (North)
Eastern Wyo. 72, Laramie County 66 (at Torrington, Wyo.)
Gillette 85, Northwest College 68 (at Gillette)
THURSDAY’S QUARTERFINALS (at Casper, Wyo.)
Western Wyoming 58, Western Nebraska 52
Northeastern Junior College 77, Gillette College 50
Otero Junior College 70, Eastern Wyoming 48
Casper College 82, McCook CC 65
FRIDAY’S SEMIFINAL GAMES
Western Wyoming (15-16) vs. Northeastern JC (28-3), 6 p.m.
Otero JC (16-15) vs. Casper College (26-5), 8 p.m.
SATURDAY GAME
Championship game, 5 p.m. (CT)
