Lady Indians fall to Gillette in final game at Casper

CASPER, Wyo. – The McCook Community College women lost to Gillette College 83-56 Saturday in the final game of the three-day Region IX Crossover Classic.

“We had a terrible start to the game for the third day in a row,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “Our slow starts have put us in a hole that becomes difficult to recover from.”

On Saturday the Pronghorns compiled a 23-15 lead after one quarter and led 39-23 at intermission.

After making good on just 31.8 percent of their shots in the first half, the Lady Indians began to find their stride in the second half making 51.6 percent of their shots and finishing the game at 43.4 percent.

“We have to get up a ton of game shots this week,” said Pritchett. “There were spots where we showed life within our offense.”

The Lady Indians were just one-for-14 from the 3-point line and went nine-for-15 from the free-throw line (60 percent). The MCC bench outscored Gillette 24-20.

Redshirt sophomore Natalie Harmata (Sydney, Australia) led MCC with 14 points and went six of nine from the field. Freshman Miriam Wahlqvist (Odakra, Sweden) paced the Lady Indians on the boards with eight, including four on the offensive end. She scored five points.

Peyton Cox (Wauneta) who sat out nine games in November and December recovering from a concussion, came off the bench Saturday to score 11 points and collected six rebounds.

“Nat made some plays, and I thought Peyton played tough today,” said Pritchett. “She's still getting back in the flow of things, but she is going in the right direction.”

Gillette College improves to 13-5.

MCC falls to 9-8 and begins Region IX play Friday in La Junta, Colo. against Otero College followed with a game Saturday at Trinidad State.

The Lady Indians return home Jan. 21 for a 5:30 p.m. contest with Lamar College.

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