Lady Indian comeback falls short in 67-66 loss to Casper
The McCook Community College women’s basketball team came back from an 18-point deficit Saturday, early in the third quarter, took a fourth quarter lead but lost 67-66 to Casper in the final game of the two-day McCook Classic held at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.
Casper took the 67-66 lead with 21 seconds left in the game. MCC had a shot late that trickled out of bounds under the basket. A replay review determined there was 0.2 seconds left. On the in-bounds, the Lady Indians made a 3-point shot but the referees determined the clock had expired before the shot left the shooter’s hands.
“We played a great second half,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “That was probably the best 20 minutes of basketball we played all year.”
The Lady Indians had to overcome a slow start, trailing the Thunderbirds 21-12 after the first quarter and by 14 points at the half, 39-25.
“We got off to a terrible first half and especially that first quarter, but we pulled ourselves out of it,” said Pritchett. “I think we played a little tight in the first half but we loosened up and allowed the plays to come to us and locked in on the defensive side of things.”
The Lady Indians held the T-Birds to 25 percent shooting in the second half and limited the 3-point success to just three-for-nine.
“Those are the sort of defensive numbers we’re capable of,” said Pritchett.
MCC trailed Casper by 16 points at the midway point of the third quarter and pulled to within 52-48 at the end of the period, having outscored the T-Birds 23-13.
On the offensive side MCC picked up the pace in the second half. After shooting at a 30.4 percent clip in the first half, hit on 40.7 in the second half and made three of five 3-pointers.
MCC’s five starters all had at least eight points led by a 15 point-game from sophomore Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany). She had five rebounds.
“Jojo had the type of game she was playing at the end of last year and hopefully she continues to do these same sorts of things for us because we need her to be good,” said Pritchett.
The coach noted Gerlach began the season shooting 50 percent from the free-throw line but went seven-for-seven Saturday.
Sophomore Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) scored 13 points and had four rebounds. Freshman Mar Molina Munoz (freshman, Parets del Valles, Spain) put in 10 points with four boards.
Sophomore Miriam Wahlqvist (Helsingborg, Sweden) had eight points and five rebounds and Carolina Garcia Perdomo (sophomore, Islas Canarias, Spain) scored eight points with three assists.
The Lady Indians also had a productive bench. Sophomore Jacelyn Jorgensen (Paxton, Neb.) led MCC with eight rebounds. Sophomore Jada Kemm (Henderson, Colo.) made two of three 3-pointers and had six points while freshman Miah Wren (Rangely, Colo.) scored four points.
“We took the right shots, we hit shots, we got to the free-throw line, and we made free throws,” said Pritchett. “These are the glimpses of this team that I expected we could be.”
MCC made 25 of 35 shots from the free-throw line (71.4 percent), won the rebound battle 41-32 and turned the ball over 18 times.
Casper improves to 3-0 with the win.
MCC goes to 2-3. The Lady Indians will hit the road for the first time this season when they travel to El Dorado, Kan. for the Butler Classic Thursday and Friday. MCC will play Butler Community College at 6 p.m. Thursday and take on Coffeeville Community College Friday at 4 p.m.
“We’ve got a few days of practice before we head to Kansas and play two teams that are among the top four in the Jayhawk Conference,” said Pritchett. “Those teams will be physical and quick so we’ve got to be able to guard, defend and limit them to one shot and execute on the offensive end and I’m excited for the opportunity.”
After that the team will be home twice prior to the Thanksgiving break. They play at home Nov. 18 against Concordia JV at 7 p.m. and Nov. 22 at 2 p.m. against Central Wyoming.
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