MCC women fall to Otero 68-65 to start second semester

The McCook Community College women came out blazing in the first quarter Friday night but ended up losing late to Otero Junior College 68-65 in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

"We came out and probably played the best first quarter of the year," said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. "It was a lot of fun, we were executing, making shots and then Otero switched up how they were guarding us and we didn't make the adjustments."

MCC led 28-17 at the end of the first quarter but Otero came back to outscore MCC 18-7 in the second quarter and tie the game at intermission, 35-35.

"We took one pass shots or zero pass shots and when you do that against a zone that makes for early offense for the other team," said Pritchett.

MCC regained the momentum in the third quarter and led 52-44 and the end of three quarters. Otero again edged back in the game and tied the score at 60-60 with 3:04 left in the game bout outscored MCC 8-5 the rest of the way.

"When we are executing, this was the best I've seen us all year and I'm excited for where we are," said Pritchett.

Statistics for this game was not available.

"We're down some bodies. We were small to begin and we're even smaller now, but I thought some of our players stepped up in their roles and Marta was one of those," said Pritchett about freshman Marta Moya Perez (Alboraya, Spain).

He was also pleased with freshman Tatyana Walrond (Bridgeton, Barbados).

"I thought Tatyana Walrond had a great first half. She hasn't played a whole lot of minutes and stepped into a starting role for us and played hard," Pritchett said. "I hope she can continue."

Tatyana Walrond scored six first-quarter points

The coach was also pleased with the way sophomore Vanessa Jurewicz (Stockholm, Sweden) shot the ball.

"We have to continue to work and play for a full 40 minutes," said Pritchett.

Otero improves to 12-4 on the year.

MCC goes to 4-12 and will continue the four-game homestand Saturday with a 2 p.m. game against Trinidad State (6-11).

For all the up-to-date information on MCC women's basketball this season and all sports including schedules, statistics, rosters and photos, please visit the official website of MCC Athletics at mccindians.com