Second quarter run leads No. 18 Howard past MCC women
Nov 13, 2026 / MCC Athletics/Brent Cobb
BIG SPRING, Texas – No. 18 Howard College went on a 21-1 second-quarter run on the way to a 65-53 win over the McCook Community College women Friday in the opening game of the Howard Classic.
Sophomore Miah Wren (Rangely, Colo.) came off the bench to fuel a strong start, hitting a pair of 3-pointers off the bench and scored half of MCC’s points on the way to a 16-12 first-quarter lead.
“I thought we came out to start the game prepared and locked in,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “We executed on both sides of the ball.”
The Lady Indians stretched the lead to 23-14 on a Nevaeh Lucero layup with 7:49 left in the first half. The Hawks countered with a 21-1 run over the next 3:55 to take a 33-24 lead and a 42-32 edge at halftime.
The Hawks outscored MCC 13-8 in the third period to take a 55-40 lead after three quarters. MCC cut the lead to 10 points in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t cut the lead to single digits. The Lady Indians outscored Howard 13-9 in the final period.
“Howard in the second half just turned up the pressure with their press. It's something we prepared for all week, we knew it was coming, we just played without poise and at times scared to attack it,” said Pritchett. “They force teams to turn the ball over and create early offensive. And we fell into that for three quarters.”
The Lady Indians committed 27 turnovers in the game.
MCC shot 39.3 percent for the game while Howard connected on a 34.7 percent of their shots. The Lady Indians made four of 15 3-point attempts (26.7 percent) while the Hawks were six-for-28 (21.4 percent). From the line MCC was just one of five (20 percent) while Howard made eight of 17 foul shots (47.1 percent).
“I thought defensively overall we played well enough to give ourselves a chance to win,” said Pritchett. “Holding a team that averages 90 points per game to 64 points, and below their averages in field goal and 3-point percentages was a good team effort.”
Howard outrebounded MCC 43-30 while the Lady Indians held a 30-28 scoring advantage in shots in the paint.
A quartet of sophomores led the scoring effort with Lucero (Thornton, Colo.) leading the way with 13 points, along with five rebounds, two assists and four steals. Claudia Serrador Cortazar (Trapagaran, Spain) scored 12 points and brought down 11 rebounds. Mar Molina Munoz (Parets del Valles, Spain) scored nine points and Wren finished with eight points.
“Nevaeh shot the ball well for us and Claudia with a double-double really established a post presence for us,” said Pritchett.
Freshman Iraia Aduriz Marquez (Barcelona, Spain) collected eight rebounds in 14 minutes off the bench.
Howard College improves to 6-1 on the season.
MCC goes to 2-3. On Saturday the Lady Indians will play a noon game against Western Texas College.
The Lady Westerners are 2-4 and lost to Northern Oklahoma College-Enid 50-38 in the early game Friday.
“It's a quick turnaround playing at noon tomorrow,” said Pritchett. “But we need to get past this game tonight, take care of the ball better and be ready for Western Texas.”
MCC will be home Tuesday to play the opening game in a women’s/men’s doubleheader against Central Community College. The women will play at 5:30 p.m. with the men’s game to follow.
Up-to-date information about MCC basketball including up-to-date schedule and changes, livestream links for home games, rosters, photos, statistics and more can be found on the MCC Athletics website, www.mccindians.com