MCC Women lose NCCAC game at North Platte, 72-46

NORTH PLATTE – The North Platte Community College women rolled past MCC Tuesday, 72-46.

"There was not a ton of good things happened for us tonight," said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. "It's one of those games you just put in the books and you wake up tomorrow thankful it's a new day."

The Knights took a 16-11 lead after 10 minutes, led 28-21 at intermission and put the game away with a 26-11 edge in the third period.

"North Platte played a great game and we struggled in a lot of areas," Pritchett said.

North Platte out-rebounded MCC 37-35, scored 10 points of 15 MCC turnovers. The Knight bench outscored MCC 22-9 and NPCC enjoyed a 24-14 scoring edge in the paint.

The Knights shot 52.3 percent from the floor, made four of 14 3-point shots, and went six-for-nine from the line.

MCC shot 32.1 percent for the game, made four or 13 3-pointers (30.8 percent) and made just six of 16 shots from the free-throw line – 37.5 percent. MCC entered the game shooting 72.9 percent from the free-throw line for the season – through 26 games, that percentage was fifth best in the nation.

"When you shoot 38 percent from the foul line your heads are not in the game," Pritchett said.

Sophomore Vanessa Jurewicz (Stockholm, Sweden) led MCC with 20 points. Carla Torrubia Cano (sophomore Melilla, Spain) had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Sophomore Sonia Sato (El Paso, Texas) had seven boards and scored five points. Shelby Clark (sophomore Las Vegas, Nevada) scored six points.

North Platte improves to 20-8 overall and finish 5-1 in the final Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference standings.

MCC falls to 17-10 and also finishes 5-1 in NCCAC.

"We have a couple big games ahead of us this weekend and we need to refocus," Pritchett said. "This group is resilient and will be back ready to go tomorrow."

MCC will close out the regular season this weekend at home with a pair of Region IX games. On Friday MCC will put its 5-3 mark in the Region IX South Division on the line in a home game with Trinidad State (8-15 and 5-4 in Region IX South) in a game starting at 5:30 p.m. A win Friday would clinch the No. 2 seed in the post-season tournament.

On Saturday MCC takes on Otero at 2 p.m. The Lady Rattlers are (8-18, 2-6). This will be the final game for eight sophomores who will be honored prior to the game.

Western Nebraska (No. 4 nationally at 24-1) leads the south division at 8-0, MCC is second at 5-3, Trinidad State is third, 5-4; Northeastern JC is fourth at 3-5, Otero JC is fifth at 2-6 and Lamar sixth at 1-6.

Saturday is also the Dick Driml Chili Cookoff in the auxiliary gym and it is open to the public from 1:30 p.m. until halftime of the men's game. All proceeds benefit the MCC Music Department.