Lady Indian Hoopsters have unfinished business
The last time the McCook Community College women's basketball team was on the court, it was during an overtime loss to Gillette College (69-68) in the Region IX tournament. Coach Brandon Pritchett called “one of the toughest losses of his coaching career.”
The 2025-26 version of Lady Indians return to the court Friday when they play their first of five home games to open the season when they take on Eastern Wyoming at 5:30 p.m.
MCC finished the 2024-25 season with a 19-12 record. The Lady Indians were 8-2 in the south region in the regular season and finished second in the south standings – earning a first-round bye for the post-season tournament. MCC swept four of the five teams in the region as the 8-2 region mark and the No. 2 seed were the best in Pritchett’s six-year tenure.
The loss to Gillette was especially tough since MCC blazed to a 24-4 first-quarter lead and a 35-15 halftime lead. MCC took a 62-60 lead with 0.6 seconds left in regulation, but Gillette hit a late shot to send the game into overtime and got a couple calls in the extra five minutes to win 68-66.
“That loss left a sour taste in our mouths. We played really well but that’s how it is sometimes in life,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “I think it can be motivation. Sometimes life hits you hard and you can’t control things, but we have the choice to let it affect us either positively or negatively and I think we’re embracing the challenge because we have a core group of sophomores who worked really hard over the summer.”
Pritchett is in his seventh season leading the Lady Indians and has compiled a 107-74 record in that time (a .591 winning percentage). In that time 24 players have moved on to four-year programs.
Angel Richards joins the squad this year as an assistant coach. She graduated from Tongue River High School in Dayton, Wyo. in 2018 and graduated in the fall of 2023 from Bacone College in Muscogee, Okla. with a bachelor’s degree in sports management. She played for North Platte Community College out of high school and was a member of the 2018-19 team that won the Region IX D2 title and the District F Championship and played in the NJCAA D2 national tournament in Harrison, Ark.
This year’s squad returns eight sophomores along with eight freshmen.
ALL EIGHT FRESHMEN from last season return for their sophomore years. The Lady Indians return about half (46.3 percent) of its scoring from a year ago.
Sophomore returners include: Peyton Cox (Wauneta-Palisade); Carolina Garcia Perdomo (Islas Canarias, Spain); Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany); Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain); Jacelyn Jorgensen (Paxton); Jada Kemm (Henderson, Colo.); Brylyn Springer (Cambridge); and Miriam Wahlqvist (Helsingborg, Sweden).
“We’re still waiting for Peyton and Brylyn to come back and get healthy, and we hope they can get back within the month,” said Pritchett.
Of the eight sophomores, all but Cox play the two through four slots on the court.
Cox is the top returning scorer, who was limited to 22 games because of injuries but averaged 7.6 points per game (third on the team), and a team-best 6.0 rebounds per game (2.4 offensive boards per game.) She shot 50 percent from the floor and 66.7 percent from the line. Cox received honorable mention for the Omaha World-Herald All-Midlands Junior College Team.
“We are solid at the wing positions with Carol, Jacelyn, Jojo and Jada at those spots,” said Pritchett.
Garcia Perdomo was second on the team in assists with 73 and third in steals with 33. She averaged 5.4 points and 3.0 rebounds in 24 starts from the guard spot. She stepped it up from the 3-point line in Region IX play where she shot 40.0 percent over the final two months of the season. She was one of five players named to the Region IX South all-defensive team at season’s end.
After starting seven games as a freshman, Gerlach (“Jojo”) became a sparkplug off the bench as a guard on the way to a season where she averaged 7.5 points (10.6 points per game against region opponents), 1.8 boards, 1.0 assists, and 1.7 steals per game in the region. She was named to the all-Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference team.
Jorgensen averaged just 6.3 minutes per game and was limited to 19 games but scored 10 points, collected 31 rebounds (nine of the offensive end), six steals and a blocked shot in her time off the bench. Her value on the team was proven earlier this semester when she was named the Holly Myers Female Teammate of the Year among all MCC female student athletes. She was selected for having the attributes required to be a great teammate.
Kemm (Henderson, Colo.) averaged 1.7 points and 1.6 rebounds last season.
Springer is the top returning 3-point shooter. In season limited by injuries to 18 games she made 40.0 percent from 3-point range, and averaged 1.3 points and 1.4 rebounds per game.
“We’re also pretty solid at the forward spots with Laia and Miriam, who’ve played more positions this fall because of sickness and injuries,” said Pritchett. “And really the six healthy sophomores have become more versatile because they’ve had to play multiple spots, and it makes us a deeper and stronger team.”
Izquierdo Altimira brings the most experience in the starting lineup (30 of 31 games) and averaged 6.4 points and 4.7 rebounds. She shot 42.2 percent from the field and made 22 of 84 triples (26.2 percent) – one of which was a critical make in the final 2:23 of her first career game against North Platte leading to a 57-56 win on opening night.
Wahlqvist (Helsingborg, Sweden) averaged 2.8 points and 2.9 rebounds per game off the bench
“Having this much experience has really helped us in a lot of ways from them taking the freshmen under their wings to putting in offensive schemes earlier in the year,” said Pritchett.
AMONG THE EIGHT incoming freshmen are three point guards, three wings and two posts.
“We’re going to be young at the point guard position and in the post,” said Pritchett.
Freshmen point guards include: Mar Molina Munoz (Parets del Valles, Spain); Marissa Evans (Barrow, United Kingdom); and Nevaeh Lucero (Thornton, Colo.).
“These three all bring something unique and different, and will be difficult for teams to defend,” said Pritchett.
He characterizes Molina Munoz as “quick, able to get up and down the floor really well, is long, has good vision and defends at a high level.”
“Marissa is also quick but shots the really ball and has the ability to get our offense into favorable matchups,” said Pritchett. “And Nevaeh has become more confident in our later scrimmages and has been making plays and getting shots. She shoots the three and has a good pullup game and even though she’s shorter she’s a play maker.”
Three freshmen wings include: Selma Cehic (Frastanz, Austria); Miah Wren (freshman, Rangely, Colo.); and Kesli Cox (Maywood-Hayes Center).
“We wanted to bring in some 3-point shooters and Selma can shoot the ball well from outside and Miah can also be a dynamic scorer for us and stretch the floor,” said Pritchett. “And I’ve been impressed with Kesli in the preseason with how she’s improved putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim.”
At 6-3, Claudia Serrador Cortazar (Trapagaran, Spain) is the tallest player Prichett has ever brought to MCC. She is joined in the post by 6-0 Stephanie Nnabuihe (Newbridge, Ireland).
“We’ve got some size this year at the post that we haven’t really had in recent years,” said Pritchett. “Both are good size and both get up and down the floor well. They change who we’ve been in the past. They are both individuals who can change our identity on both sides of the floor with their size, their length and athletic ability.”
The coach likes the two differences his posts bring to the team.
“Stephanie is a banger inside and posts up, gets physical and goes and gets rebounds while Claudia can shoot from outside and put it on the floor a little bit.”
The coach likes the combination of skills available at the key positions at point guard and in the post.
“Teams are going to have to prepare for 14 or 16 players every night because we have depths and different types of players at our skilled positions,” Pritchett said.
NEW LOOK REGION: This is the first year that North Platte and Southeast Community College will be competing in Division 1 of the National Junior College Athletic Association. Both moved up from Division 2. (D1 schools can offer full athletic scholarships covering tuition, fees, room and board while D2 schools are limited to partial scholarships covering tuition, fees, but not room and board.)
The addition of North Platte and Southeast to the D1 Region IX South division makes it an eight-team division as they join McCook, Lamar, Northeastern Junior College, Otero, Trinidad State and Western Nebraska.
“It doesn’t really change much in the region other than this season one team from the south won’t make the Region IX tournament,” said Pritchett. “We’ve always played North Platte and Southeast twice a year it’s just that these four games are going to matter more for seeding going into the post-season.”
Pritchett said other region teams will have additional games and travel on their schedule with the addition of the two new teams since not all of them played North Platte and most didn’t play Southeast.
“Those are two really good coaches coming into our region,” said Pritchett. “Jeff Thurman at North Platte is a long-time coach who has played most of these teams over the years and Southeast’s coach was an assistant at NJC, so she knows this region as well.”
Prichett believes the region is stronger this year and he expects a competitive battle for the top seed.
The North Division of Region IX remains at the seven Wyoming schools: Casper College, Central Wyoming, Eastern Wyoming, Gillette College, Laramie County Community College, Northwest College and Western Wyoming.
There is also a change in the post-season tournament with only the top six teams in each division advancing to the Region IX Tournament. The top seeds in the south and north will receive first round byes while the other teams play cross-division first round games which start March 6 and continue with the next rounds March 12-14 at the top seed from the north.
THE SCHEDULE: MCC will play their first five games at home and seven of their first nine. The Lady Indians were 10-3 last season at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center where they open the season Friday at 5:30 p.m. against Eastern Wyoming, Saturday at 2 p.m against Laramie County, and Tuesday at 6 p.m. against Garden City.
MCC will host the four team McCook Classic Nov. 7-8 as the Lady Indians host Colorado Northwestern Community College Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. and against Casper College at 3 p.m. Nov. 8. Following two games in the Butler Community College Classic Nov. 13-14 in El Dorado, Kan. The Lady Indians will be home Nov. 18 against Concordia JV and Central Wyoming at 2 p.m. Nov. 22.
The day after Thanksgiving, MCC travels to Casper, Wyo. for two games in the Casper Thanksgiving Classic followed with road games in Wyoming Dec. 5-6 against Eastern Wyoming and Laramie County and two games at Hobbs, N.M. in the New Mexico JC Classic before the lone home game in December – Dec. 16 against Gillette College at 4 p.m.
The post-holiday schedule is all Region IX South games (14) starting Jan. 10 at home against North Platte for a 2 p.m. game, Jan. 16-17 against Otero College and Trinidad State and Jan. 28 against Western Nebraska. MCC has three more home games in February: Feb. 4 against Lamar, Feb. 7 against Southeast CC and Feb. 21 against Northeastern JC.
The Region IX tournament begins March 6 with times and pairings based on final season standings.
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