Lady Indians hand Western Nebraska first region loss

The McCook Community College women’s basketball team snapped an eight-game losing streak against Wester Nebraska Wednesday night at home, nipping the first-place Cougars 58-56.

“That was a fun game. It had a little bit of everything,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “I think we gave everybody an effort that was worth the price of admission.”

Western Nebraska tied the game 56-56 on a pair of free throws with 21.4 seconds left in the game. On the ensuing MCC possession, sophomore Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) was fouled driving to the basket with 13.9 seconds left. She hit both free throws and the Lady Indians were able to prevent Western from getting up a shot as time expired.

“We finished plays – especially at the end. To have a foul and let them come back and tie it and then we kind of had a breakdown with execution at our end but Laia got to the line on a drive and makes two free throws and then we go down and get a defensive stop on the other end and don’t foul,” said Pritchett.

Freshman Stephanie Nnabuihe (freshman, Newbridge, Ireland) got her first career start Wednesday but finished even stronger, scoring nine points in the final six minutes of the game. She finished with a game-high 19 points and nine rebounds.

“Stephanie got the start for her first time and almost had a double-double, and was great at finishing,” said Pritchett. “I talked to her after going three of 13 from the field last game and tonight she made nine of 13. That is huge.”

Both teams battled from the start and finished the first quarter tied at 17. MCC stepped up the defense in the second quarter, outscored the Cougars and led at the half, 28-22.

“We came out with a first-quarter tie, and then our defense came out and played well in that second quarter,” said Pritchett.

Like a heavyweight fight, both teams exchanged punches in the third quarter and each team scored 16 points.

Leading 44-38 after three quarters, Western Nebraska started the quarter with a 6-0 run in the first two minutes to tie the game. Izquierdo Altimira hit a 3-pointer at the 7:53 mark to put the Lady Indians back on top 47-44.

MCC surrendered the lead with 5:32 left in the game as WNCC went ahead 50-49.

The Lady Indians kept feeding Nnabuihe down low and she responded scoring nine straight points, scoring her last point at the 2:12 mark to put MCC up 56-54, where the score remained until WNCC tied up with a pair of free throws with 21.9 left in the game.

“Both teams really battled all four quarters,” said Pritchett. “It was one of the better games we’ve put together all year from top to bottom.”

Izquierdo Altimira scored 12 points and had six rebounds. Sophomore Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany) scored eight points but it was her defensive effort that really impressed her coach.

“Jojo is one of the best defenders in the region and she had a tough matchup with Ella Chesta-Carty who is a heck of a player,” said Pritchett.

Claudia Serrador Cortazar (freshman, Trapagaran, Spain) scored six points and had four boards off the bench.

MCC shot 48 percent from the field, made three of 11 triples ( 27.3 percent) and went seven of 15 from the free-throw line. MCC turned the ball over 10 times in each half and the Lady Indians had a 44-39 rebound edge.

“We turned the ball over 20 times at home and we shot 47 percent from the free-throw line, I don’t like how that looks on paper but at the end of the day, we played with a huge amount of heart and passion,” said Pritchett.

MCC held Western Nebraska to 28.4 percent from the field, just three of 23 from the 3-point line (13 percent) and 15 of 21 from the charity stripe (73.3 percent).

The Cougars fall to 5-1 in the region and 15-7 for the season.

This was the first time since March 21, 2021 that MCC has beaten Western Nebraska. On that Sunday, MCC upset the No 9 Cougars 65-57 but have lost two games each season since then – eight straight times.

MCC moves into a first-place tie with Western Nebraska in the Region IX South standings at 5-1 and 12-10 overall. Lamar was a 77-44 winner at home Wednesday to improve to 4-1 in the standings.

“We can’t let this be the only exciting thing that happens to us this week, we have to go to a tough place to play Saturday at Sterling and we have to build off this,” said Pritchett. “So we have to get back in the gym tomorrow and be ready for Saturday.”

The Lady Indians will be in Sterling Colo. Saturday for a 2 p.m. game against Northeastern Junior College.

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