Northeastern JC women end MCC season with 60-56 win Saturday

STERLING, Colo. –The Northeastern Junior College women downed McCook Community College 60-56 Saturday in a Region IX play-in game. The loss ends the season for MCC.

"We didn't take care of the ball and turned it over in crucial situations," said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. "This was a tough way to end the year."

MCC turned the ball over 19 times and NJC was credited with 16 steals.

"We changed up our defense on them this meeting and I thought we played well but just didn't rebound," said Pritchett.

The Lady Plainswomen outrebounded MCC 39-35. NJC shot 35.7 percent from the field, went four-for-19 from distance (21.1 percent) and made 16 of 24 free throws (66.6 percent).

MCC shot 33 percent for the game, went six of 15 from the 3-point line (40 percent), and made 18 of 21 free throws (85.7 percent).

Taryn Lindsey, (redshirt freshman, Fountain, Colo.) led MCC with 13 points, going nine-for-10 from the free-throw line. She also led the team with 10 rebounds. Vanessa Jurewicz (sophomore, Stockholm, Sweden) scored 11 points and Valentina Monzo (redshirt freshman, Santiago, Chile) scored nine points.

Northeastern Junior College improves to 11-18 on the season and moves on the second round of the tournament where they will face Casper College (27-3), ranked 15^th in the nation. The next stage of the tournament shifts to Scottsbluff where top seed Western Nebraska will host the remaining games over three days March 9-11.

MCC ends the season at 12-19.

"It's been a rough year, we didn't start strong, had a nice little middle run and then stumbled at the end," Pritchett said. "But there are a lot of positives to take from this year, and a lot we can learn from individually from the experiences this year."

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