MCC women pick up first win, topping NWKTC 70-55

The McCook Community College women’s basketball team picked up their first win of the season Tuesday at home with a 70-55 win over Northwest Kansas Technical College.

“It’s always good to get that first win,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “We came out well in the first half, then had a lull and got down at half-time.”

The Lady Indians came on strong at the end of the first quarter to take a 20-15 lead, then sputtered midway through the second quarter and the Mavericks took a 34-33 lead at the half.

MCC came out with a 5-0 run in the first 50 seconds of the third quarter to take the lead for good.

“We played a better second half. We really came out and set a tone early in that third quarter,” said Pritchett. “That’s something we haven’t done the last two games.”

MCC outscored NWKTS 17-6 in the third quarter and led 50-40.

“Holding them to six points was big and I think defensively this can be a really good team as long as we rebound the ball,” Pritchett said.

The Lady Mavericks shot 27.1 percent from the field, made five of 20 3-pointers (25 percent), and 12 of 21 free throws (57.1 percent.) NWKT committed 17 turnovers.

Sophomore Rebecca Dunn (Colorado Springs, Colo.) came off the bench to lead MCC in scoring with 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds.

“Becca came up big. I don’t know what she ate, but she came out with phenomenal game off the bench,” said Pritchett. “She got to the right places, finished at the rim and did all the little things we’ve been asking her to do.”

Gemma Gruettner Bacoul (sophomore, Berlin, Germany) scored 12 points and added six rebounds, she was two of five from the 3-point line. Sophomore transfer Suzan Sisman (Aarhus, Denmark) scored 11 points off the bench with a three-for-four night from the 3-point line. Natalie Harmata (sophomore, Sydney, Australia) scored nine points and three offensive rebounds. Sophomore transfer Zalamans (Stockhom, Sweden) had 11 rebounds and nine assists.

“We were good on the boards and had a lot of assists and a lot of that is because Becca was finishing,” Pritchett said. MCC had 19 assists in the game.

MCC shot 44.8 percent for the game. After making just 38.5 percent of their shots in the first 20 minutes they improved to 50 percent over the final two quarters. The Lady Indians went five for 14 from the 3-point line (35.7 percent) and made 13 of 16 free throws (81.3 percent). The home squad outrebounded the Kansans 55-21. MCC committed 26 turnovers.

“We have to clean some things up – 26 turnovers is too many, Pritchett said. “We have to be better with the ball and we have to clean up the execution at the end of the game.”

NWKTC falls to 0-2 on the season having lost their previous game at home against North Platte, 62-53.

MCC goes to 1-2.

“I’m excited for this group and we have a long trip ahead of us to Wyoming so a short turnaround and we’ll work on some things for Friday and Saturday,” Pritchett said.

MCC will face their first road test at Riverton Wyo. this weekend with a pair of games in the Central Wyoming Tip-Off Classic. On Friday MCC takes on Dawson Community College (2-1) at 2 p.m. and on Saturday at noon, they play a team of Wyoming all-stars.

Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com.