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MCC women celebrate Sunday victory at home
The McCook Community College women downed Northeastern Junior College 75-59 Sunday in Region IX play in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.
"It was a good region win for us especially after we let the game there at NJC slip away from us," said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett, referring to a 64-53 loss at Sterling, Colo. Jan. 15.
"I thought we did a good job on the defensive end. We had a better second half, we didn't guard the 3-point line very well," Pritchett said.
MCC got out to an 11-0 lead before NJC responded with an 11-0 run of their own to start the game. MCC led after one period 15-13 and 34-28 at the half but the Plainswomen responded in the first five minutes of the third period to tie the game at 39-39 at the 5:06 mark of the period.
"We were trying to force them into jumpers and that was the game plan and they made a lot of them," Pritchett said.
NJC's Nailea Nichols led all scorers with 27 points including four-for-five from the 3-point line and Filippa Goula had 18 points. The Plainswomen shot 43.1 percent from the field, made seven of 17 3s (41.2 percent) and went eight of 10 at the free-throw line.
"Kudos to them those two really played well but we limited them to two offensive rebounds and that was huge for us," Pritchett said.
From the midway point of the third period MCC outscored NJC 36-20 over the final 15 minutes of the game.
"I thought we were pretty efficiently offensively," Pritchett said.
MCC shot 48.4 percent in the second half and 44.8 percent for the game. After making six of 13 3-point shots in the first half MCC made six of 12 in the second half and finished at 48 percent from the 3-point line and made 11 of 14 free throws (78.6 percent).
"You put up those numbers and make 12 of 25 3s, you put yourself in position to win games," Pritchett said.
MCC outrebounded NJC 29-24 and had 25 assists in the game.
"I don't think we've had 25 assists all season," Pritchett said. "But we were really distributing the ball well and attacking, I'm really proud of them."
Sophomore Vanessa Jurewicz (Stockholm, Sweden) led MCC with 25 points and went six of 10 from distance. Sophomore Sonia Sato (El Paso, Texas) scored 17 points and had a team-high seven rebounds and seven assists.
Sophomore Alyssa Van Vleet (Oberlin, Kan.) scored 15 points and made three of five 3-pointers. Sophomore Carla Torrubia Cano (Melilla, Spain) scored 10 points and had six rebounds. Sophomore Shelby Clark (Las Vegas, Nevada) was credited with six assists.
"Vanessa, Sonia, Alyssa, Carla all had great numbers today and I thought Shelby really stepped up and distributed the ball well," Pritchett said.
NJC falls to 11-12 and 2-3 in the region.
"You have to win the games at home and we took care of business today," Pritchett said. "To get the win at home is really solid and puts us in a good position region-wise."
MCC goes to 15-9 and 3-3 in the Region IX South standings
The coach said his team will need to be ready for another Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference game Tuesday at Beatrice. That is a 5 p.m. game against Southeast Community College.
"They're always tough to play at home and we need to be ready," Pritchett said.
MCC downed Southeast 70-51 a week ago at home.
On Friday MCC travels to Lamar for a Region IX game. That is set to tipoff at 6 p.m.