Lady Indians top Rustlers 65-52 at home

The McCook Community College women picked up a 65-52 win over Central Wyoming Community College Saturday afternoon in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

The Lady Indians stretched a 30-27 halftime lead to 49-36 with a 19-9 third quarter advantage and held on in the fourth quarter for the win against the Region IX North team from Riverton, Wyo.

“We played a complete game all the way through the afternoon,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “That was a team that played really well last night in North Platte.”

The Rustlers downed North Platte in a big comeback win 73-65 Friday night. Central Wyoming trailed 53-49 against the Knights after three quarters in that game but went on a 13-1 run and outscored North Platte 24-12 in the final period.

“That’s something we talked about before the game and I thought we handled things pretty well in that fourth quarter to finish the game,” said Pritchett.

Central’s Izabelle Moyes helped key the Friday comeback shooting four-for-eight from the 3-point line against North Platte. She began the game Saturday against MCC going four-for-eight from the 3-point line with 12 points at halftime.

“We played pretty hard and we defended but we had a big talk about Central’s No. 5 (Moyes) at half,” said Pritchett. “We talked to the girls about not letting her catch and shoot so easily and not let her get through the screens and come off for shots and we made the adjustments.”

Moyes was 0-for-3 in the second half from the 3-point line and Pritchett credits a trio of sophomore guards for making the adjustments on defense: Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany), Carolina Garcia Perdomo (Islas Canarias, Spain) and Jada Kemm (Henderson, Colo.).

“Credit to Jo Jo and Carol and Jada guarding her in the second half. I’m proud of that group,” said Pritchett.

MCC held the Rustlers to 30.4 percent shooting for the game, seven-for-31 from distance (22.6 percent) and 11 of 16 from the free-throw line (68.8 percent.)

MCC got 44 points from its starters and 21 bench points. Sophomore Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) led MCC with 11 points and five rebounds, sophomore Miriam Wahlqvist (Helsingborg, Sweden) scored 10 and grabbed five boards. Gerlach and freshman Mar Molina Munoz (Parets del Valles, Spain) both scored nine points and Perdomo led MCC with four assists to go along with five points.

Off the bench Nevaeh Lucero (freshman, Thornton, Colo.) scored seven points while freshman posts Stephanie Nnabuihe (Newbridge, Ireland) scored six first-half points and had three rebounds and Claudia Serrador Cortazar (Trapagaran, Spain) scored six second-half points with four boards.

“We got pretty balanced scoring tonight, which is what I think we can do,” said Pritchett. “We have to get in the gym and shoot free throws and work on our 3-pointers because I think that will be what helps us take that next step,” said Pritchett. “And we still need to take better care of the ball.”

The Lady Indians shot 51 percent from the field, made just one of eight triples and went 14 of 24 from the line (58.3 percent). MCC out-rebounded CWC 37-30 and the Tribe committed 18 turnovers.

The Rustlers go to 4-4 while MCC improves to 4-5 on the year.

The Lady Indians head to Casper, Wyo. the day after Thanksgiving to play in the Casper Classic. On Friday MCC takes on Western Wyoming at 1 p.m. followed with a game against No. 22 Casper Saturday at 4 p.m. The T-Birds topped MCC 66-65 in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center Nov. 8 in the MCC Classic.

“We’ve got some tough teams coming up in this next week,” said Pritchett.

MCC has one remaining home game before the Christmas break when they host Gillette College Dec. 16 at 4 p.m.

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