Lady Indians go to 6-1 in standings with 76-54 win over NJC

The McCook Community College women maintained second place in the Region IX South standings Wednesday night with a 76-54 win over Northeastern Junior College in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

“This was an all-around, great game for us, and a much needed one – especially being at home,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “

Behind sophomore Madara Liepniece’s (Riga, Latvia) 18 first-half points MCC never trailed in building a 25-11 first-quarter lead and a 46-23 lead at intermission.

“Madara had a heck of a first half and really set the tone for us and then Marta had a great second half,” said Pritchett. “Madara wasn’t getting the same shots later, but she was distributing the ball.”

Liepniece finished with 18 points and seven assists, shooting five-for-10 from the 3-point line and leading the team with seven rebounds.

In the second half sophomore Marta Moya Perez (Alboraya, Spain) picked up the offensive torch, scoring 14 of her 18 points. She hit all four of her 3-point shots in the second half.

Freshman Peyton Cox (Wauneta-Palisade) scored 10 points and went four-for-six from the free-throw line. Freshmen Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) and Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany) both scored nine points.

NJC shot 35 percent from the field, made five of 20 threes (25 percent) and made seven of 12 free throws (58.3 percent).

MCC shot 40 percent from the field, made 13 of 24 threes (54.2 percent) and went seven of 10 from the line (70 percent). The Lady Indians outrebounded the Plainswomen 40-35.

MCC had nine turnovers in the game.

“We shot the ball really well, and we’re capable of these things if we’re locked in,” said Pritchett. “We played tough and took care of the ball and did a lot of good things all the way around.”

MCC’s win Wednesday completes the season sweep over the Plainswomen. MCC won 87-68 in Sterling, Colo. on Jan. 31.

“Last year they swept us and every other year it’s been a split so to get both these games against a tough program feels pretty good,” said Pritchett.

The Plainswomen fall to 2-6 in the standings and 6-22 on the season.

The Lady Indians improve to 17-10 and remain second place in the Region IX South standings at 6-1, just a game back of first-place Western Nebraska, 7-0.

The top two teams in the Region IX south standings will receive a first round bye for the play-in games within the south region. This year after the play-in games, the south will host the north in the eight-team Region IX tournament, with four teams from the south and four teams from the north.

“I’m really proud of this group 6-1 in region standings is putting us in a good spot to be in the top two,” said Pritchett. “They played tough tonight and came out with a great win and now we’ve got one day of practice to prepare for Western Nebraska,” said Pritchett.

On Friday MCC will travel to Scottsbluff to take on No. 21 Western Nebraska. The Cougars are 21-5 on the season and beat MCC 67-50 on Jan. 28 in McCook.

The Lady Indians close the season out at home Feb. 28 and March 1 against Trinidad State and Otero 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

REGION IX SOUTH D-1 WOMEN’S STANDINGS
                                            W-L     PCT      OVERALL
Western Nebraska     7-0   1.000     21-5   (.808)     

McCook                           6-1     .857      17-10  (.630)

Lamar CC                       3-5     .375      11-15  (.423)

Trinidad State               3-5     .375        6-17  (.261)

Northeastern JC          2-6     .250        6-22  (.214)

Otero College               1-5     .167        4-21  (.160)

TUESDAY RESULTS
McCook CC 76, Northeastern JC 54 (at McCook)

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE
Northeastern JC at North Platte, 5 p.m.

Otero College at Lamar, 6 p.m.

McCook at Western Nebraska, 6:30 p.m.

REMAINING MCC SCHEDULE
Feb. 28 – Otero College at McCook CC (5:30 p.m.)

March 1 – Trinidad State at McCook CC (2 p.m.)