MCC to face Lady Mustangs in tourney Thursday

After starting the Region IX tournament with a thrilling 63-62 win over Casper Saturday at home, the McCook Community College women’s basketball team hope to keep the momentum going Thursday when they take on top-seeded Western Wyoming. Game time at Rock Springs, Wyo. is 8 p.m.

MCC is 16-15 on the season while the Lady Mustangs went 8-4 and won the tie-breaker as the top seed in the north division of Region IX. The team finished 21-9 overall and won their final six games of the regular season.

“If we come out with the same type of intensity that we did against Casper, we’ll set ourselves up for success and have an opportunity to be right there throughout the game,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett.

Other scores from first-round matchups included Central Wyoming downing North Platte 71-58, seventh-seeded Laramie County Community College upset second-seeded Western Nebraska 73-59, Northwest topped Northeastern JC 88-57, Gillette was a 90-72 winner over Southeast CC 90-72, and Eastern Wyoming upset Otero 55-53.

The north division won five of the six matchups against the south. Only fourth-seeded MCC and top seeded Lamar, a team which had a first-round bye are still alive in the tournament.

Quarter-final match-ups for Thursday start with Eastern Wyoming (15-15) playing Northwest (21-10) at 1:30 p.m., Central Wyoming (15-14) faces Lamar (20-6) at 3:30 p.m., Gillette (21-10) and LCCC (10-19) at 6 p.m., with the MCC-Western Wyoming matchup winding up the schedule at 8 p.m. in front of the partisan crowd in Rock Springs.

“It’s always a challenge – and you love that challenge, playing the host school – but I think it’s going to be a great crowd,” said Pritchett. “It’s their first time hosting in a while – if ever –and I think there’s going to be a lot of excitement for both teams.”

The semi-finals are Friday at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. with the championship game Saturday at 4 p.m..

Coming off the win over Casper – the four-time defending Region IX champions –the Lady Indians endured a game that was tied eight times with 12 lead changes. MCC was lights-out from the 3-point line making seven of 12 long-range shots (58.3 percent) and made 14 of 19 free throws (77.8 percent). MCC outrebounded Casper 33-29.

Johanna Gerlach led MCC with 14 points, Miah Wren scored 13 and Laia Izquierdo Altimira had 12 points. Carolina Garcia Perdomo made two of three triples and scored eight points. Wren was also two-for-three from distance and Izquierdo made two of five treys. Stephanie Nnabuihe led MCC with seven rebounds, Gerlach had five.

MCC VS WESTERN WYOMING, PART 2: MCC lost a 67-66 decision to the Mustangs at the Casper Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 29. The Lady Indians overcame a 19-point third-quarter deficit to take a pair of late fourth-quarter leads but came up. Western Wyoming went on a 19-1 run over the first 6:50 of the second period to lead 33-15 and held a 37-23 half-time lead. WWCC took their largest lead of the game (19 points) just 51 seconds into the third quarter, but the Lady Indians took a 22-15 advantage in the third period to close the gap to 52-45. Garcia Perdomo hit a 3-pointer with 3:53 left in the game to give the Lady Indians their first lead since the first quarter, 61-60. She hit another 3-pointer with 27.3 left in the game to give MCC a 66-65 lead.

After Western Wyoming hit an inside layup to lead 67-66 with 14.9 left, MCC had the chance to win the game, but a Lady Mustang steal ultimately sealed the win.

“They are a team that likes pace on both sides and play a physical defense and we’re going to have to match that intensity,” said Pritchett. “We can’t allow that physicality to bump us off our line so we can execute what we want to run offensively.”

SCOUTING WESTERN WYOMING: The Lady Mustangs average 74.3 points per game, third in the north. And shoot 41.9 percent from the field and 29.6 percent from the 3-point line and 70.2 from the free-throw line. Western Wyoming averages 38.6 rebounds per game.

The Lady Mustangs were 6-2 at home and have won six straight games.

“There’s a reason why they’re setting in first place, they are a balanced team that plays extremely hard on both ends of the floor and they average 13 offensive rebounds per game and you watch them on film and it’s a lot of hustle plays,” said Pritchett. “We have to take those types of plays away from them.”

Maia Rhay leads the team scoring 14.8 points per game, 4.9 rebounds and 91 steals. She is one of four players averaging double-digit points. The others include: Amanda Baumgarte 11.5 points and 5.1 rebounds, Peata Manumaleuga, 11.4 with 3.4 assists; and Austyn Feller, 11.2 points and a team-best 5.9 rebounds.

“Defensively, they’re going to make plays and make shots, we’re just going to have to make sure those shots are difficult ones,” said Pritchett.

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