MCC women start season's second half downing Central CC 71-54

The McCook Community College women shook off a sluggish first quarter Saturday and came back to out-score Central Community College 47-26 in the middle two quarters on the way to a 71-54 win in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

The Lady Raiders came out and took a 16-12 first quarter lead before MCC fought back with a couple 3-pointers late in the second quarter to lead 30-27 at the half.

"That was a start that showed we had a 31-day break between games," said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett.

MCC shot 34.3 percent from the field in the first half, made just two of 11 shots from the 3-point arc (18.2 percent) and committed 12 first-half turnovers.

"I think we came out that second half and showed a lot of effort, played hard and when you do those things it helps even if the execution isn't there," Pritchett said.

MCC outscored Central 18-11 in the second quarter and held a 27-15 edge in the third period.

Sophomore Maite Lara Garcia (Sant Joan Despi, Spain) led MCC with 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds. Alyssa Van Vleet (sophomore, Oberlin, Kan.) had 15 points and nine boards.

"Maite stepped up and had another big game for us, Alyssa got some great rebounds for us, pushed the ball for us, and Carla got in a groove and made some shots," Pritchett said.

Sophomore Carla Torrubia Cano (Melilla, Spain) had 12 points and nine rebounds and made both her 3-pointers, and was five-of-six overall from the field.

"She's been shooting the ball well of late and even though we had a long break she was shooting the ball well before the break and I'm glad that's continued. It shows the amount of work she's put in over the holidays," Pritchett said.

MCC was just three points away from having all five starters in double-figures with sophomores Sonia Sato (El Paso, Texas) and Vanessa Jurewicz (Stockholm, Sweden) scoring nine and eight points respectively. Sato had four rebounds and Jurewicz had six assists.

MCC finished the game shooting 41.7 percent from the floor, made five of 20 3-pointers (25 percent) and went six for 10 from the free-throw line (60 percent.) Central shot 25.7 percent for the game, made two of 18 shots from the 3-point line (11 percent) and went 16 of 23 from the line (69.6 percent).

MCC out-rebounded the Lady Raiders 47-38.

"This time around we were better on the glass, we maybe gave up some offensive rebounds late in the game but we didn't give up 21 like we did in the last game against them at their place and that allowed us to be in a better situation this time around," Pritchett said.

Central goes to 6-8 and 0-3 in the NCCAC after losing at North Platte Friday.

MCC goes to 8-6 on the season and 2-0 in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference. The MCC Ladies open up the Region IX schedule at home Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in a game with Lamar Community College (6-9).

"We'll prepare now for Lamar on Tuesday, and we hope we'll get another good crowd out here for us and the guys," Pritchett said.

For more photos from tonight's game, please visit the MCC Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MPCCMcCook