MCC women lose to Mineral Area at Thanksgiving Classic

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa – Mineral Area College scored the first eight points of the game, raced to a 23-10 first-quarter lead and coasted to a 76-56 win over the McCook Community College women in the opening game of the Iowa Western Thanksgiving Classic.

MCC came back in the second quarter and outscored MAC 19-18 to close the half-time deficit to 41-29 but the Lady Cardinals came out in the third quarter to enjoy a 23-11 scoring edge.

"We started both halves very slow and had no energy to begin," said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. "We put ourselves in a big hole in the first quarter."

Sophomore Vanessa Jurewicz (Stockholm, Sweden), led MCC with 18 points, making six of 11 shots, two of three from the 3-point line and four-for-for from the free throw-line.

"Vanessa played really solid for us, she is starting to find her way within our offense and is starting to make shots because of that," Pritchett said.

Maite Lara Garcia (sophomore, Sant Joan Despi, Spain), scored 13 points on a six-for-10 night from the field. Sophomore Carla Torrubia Cano (Melilla, Spain) led MCC with 12 rebounds to go along with three points.

"Maite and Carla both were solid for us, but we had to play them a lot of minutes," Pritchett said. "We need others to step and be consistent on this team for us to be successful."

MCC shot 39.3 percent from the field, made seven of 21 shots from the 3-point line (33.3 percent), and made five of seven free throws (71.4 percent).

Mineral Area shot 33.3 percent from the field, 23.8 percent on 21 shots from distance and made 16 of 20 shots from the free-throw line (80.0 percent) and won the rebound battle 47-24. The Lady Cardinals scored 18 second-chance points compared to none for MCC, and the Mineral Area bench outscored MCC 29-12.

"They were physical and we just didn't match it," Pritchett said.

The Lady Cardinals improve to 7-3.

MCC goes to 5-4 and will play No. 10 Iowa Western Community College (2-3) Saturday at 2 p.m. The Reivers ranking comes in NJCAA Division II. Iowa Western lost to No. 7 New Mexico Junior College Saturday 74-53 in the other game of the Thanksgiving Classic.

"We have another opportunity tomorrow against another very good team in Iowa Western," Pritchett said.