Lady Indians nip Casper to advance in tourney

The McCook Community College women’s basketball team pulled out a last-second 63-62 win over Casper in front of the home crowd Saturday at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

“What a great game to be a part of,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “A lot of up and down on both sides.”

The Lady Indians had taken a 63-62 lead against the four-time defending Region IX champions, with 3:16 left in the game on a 3-pointer by freshman Claudia Serrador Cortazar (Trapagaran, Spain). Casper hit a basket with 1:50 left to cut the score to 63-62. After both teams had empty possessions down the stretch, Casper got a defensive rebound with 13.2 seconds left and got a long two-point shot off, but MCC was called for a foul under the basket with 0.7 seconds left in the game.

“I don’t like seeing those fouls at the end of the game,” said Pritchett. “And when the officials were reviewing the play and checking the clock, our heads were down during that timeout, but I kept on telling them we’re up by one, anything can happen.”

Casper’s Mila James went to the line for two shots. She had already made two of her previous three free throws. And then something happened that the coach and never seen – or heard.

“I don’t think I have ever heard our home crowd that loud for free throws before,” said Pritchett. “It was something really, special.”

James missed the first free throw. The crowd got even louder. She missed the second free throw and MCC sophomore guard Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany) came up with the rebound as time expired.

“I’m thankful for everybody that helped us there in that final second. Our home crowd had everything to do with her missing those two free throws,” said Pritchett. “The crowd really showed up for us and were a part of a huge, huge win.”

MCC scored the first seven points of the game but the Lady Thunderbirds outscored MCC 10-3 over the final 3:36 to tie the game 10-10 after the first period. MCC took a 29-28 lead at intermission and Casper led 50-47 after three quarters in a game that was tied eight times with 12 lead changes.

“We shot the ball really well, we made free throws today and hit 3s with the right people taking them at the right times,” said Pritchett. “Just a complete game all the way around for us.”

Sophomores Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) and Carolina Garcia Perdomo (Islas Canarias, Spain) both hit key 3-pointers in the fourth quarter as well as the final triple by Serrador Cortazar and an old-fashioned 3-point play from freshman Miah Wren (Rangely, Colo.) with 3:55 left in the game. The Lady Indians outscored Casper 16-12 in the fourth quarter.

The Lady Indians shot 41.2 percent from the field (50 percent in the second half), made seven of 12 shots from the 3-point line (58.3 percent) and made 14 of 19 free throws (77.8 percent). MCC outrebounded Casper 33-29.

Gerlach led MCC with 14 points, Wren scored 13 and Izquierdo Altimira had 12. Sophomore Carolina Garcia Perdomo (Islas Canarias, Spain) made two of three triples and scored eight points. Wren was also two-for-three from distance with two steals, and Izquierdo made two of five shots from beyond the arc.

Stephanie Nnabuihe (freshman, Newbridge, Ireland) led MCC with seven rebounds, Gerlach had five.

“I thought we played a really good defensive game. Casper is a really tough team to guard because they have so many options,” said Pritchett.

Casper shot 43.1 percent for the game, made six of 19 triples (31.6 percent) and went six for 11 from the free-throw line.

The Lady T-Birds had five players in double figures led by 15 from Kennedy Davila, 12 from James and Luna Ueda, and 10 each from Massana Amadu and Amaia Jones.

“This is a team in Casper, if their point-guard hadn’t missed a few critical games, was probably going to be a first or second seed in the north and they are a team that had played like a top one or two seed for most of this season,” said Pritchett. “So this was a quality win against a quality opponent.”

Fifth seeded Casper finishes the year at 22-9.

The Lady Indians go to 16-15 and end Casper’s streak of Region IX championships at four.

MCC advances to the three-day Region IX tournament Thursday, Friday and Saturday in Rock Springs, Wyoming. The Lady Indians will take on the north’s top seed and host team Western Wyoming Thursday at 8 p.m. 

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