The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates, by their own admission, failed to play up to their standards in regular-season play in Region 16, as a pair of losses to nationally-ranked St. Louis, a lopsided loss to Penn Valley in Kansas City, and a surprising home defeat to the Cottey Comets, left NCMC with a mark of 2-4, good for only a #3 seed in the postseason Region 16 tournament, played Friday and Saturday evenings on the campus of Lincoln University in Jefferson City.
While a regular season overall record of 21-9 heading to the “Capitol City” was nothing to sneer at, the Lady Pirates went south last week as a highly motivated group, ready to fight with everything they had to regain the Region 16 championship, and put a banner on the wall at the Ketcham Community Center.
In games broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7, the Lady Pirates opened the tournament in “watching mode”, as top-seeded St. Louis dismantled Cottey in Friday afternoon’s first game, 92-63. As the final buzzer sounded, North Central’s women readied to hit the floor against rival Penn Valley.
Playing in the “rubber match” of their three-game season series, beating the Scouts was, as always, a challenging task for NCMC. The Lady Pirates, after 10 minutes, led by a score of 14-12, but in the second quarter, the lead ballooned for North Central. Behind eight points (including two 3-pointers) by St. Joseph Lafayette product Maddie Book, and ten points from All-Region sophomore forward Sarah Lamp, the Lady Pirates outscored Penn Valley 24-14, heading to the locker room with a 38-26 lead.
Facing season elimination, the Scouts fought back in the third quarter, outscoring NCMC 25-20 in a feverishly-played stretch of basketball, with Kassidy Snowden scoring six points, Bailey Reed six, and Richmond native Kaylee VanTrump five for Penn Valley. Although Penn Valley hit four three-pointers in the final quarter, Kendey Eaton hit five of six free throws down the stretch, while Samm Jett hit a monster three-point field goal, to help hold off the Scouts, 74-69, in the process advancing the Lady Pirates to the Region 16 title game against St. Louis.
Balanced scoring was key for North Central in Friday night’s victory, with Samm Jett and Sarah Lamp both scoring 15 points, while Kendey Eaton had 14 and Maddie Book 11. Zoe Albon led Penn Valley with 20 points, with Kassidy Snowden scoring 13, and Octavia Lowery adding 10.
Noticeable from the outset of Saturday’s grudge match with the Archers was the fierce determination and energy that the Lady Pirates put on the floor, immediately putting STLCC on notice that NCMC would not be a walkover game for the 4th-ranked team in the country.
The Lady Pirates started in lightning-quick fashion against the Archers, with seven first-quarter points from both Lamp and Eaton sending the #3 seeds to a 23-16 lead after 10 minutes. The storyline, in the second quarter, began to shift the way of the Archers, with the St. Louis combination of size, speed, and strength beginning to wear down North Central. However, after losing the lead late in the second quarter, the Lady Pirates bench, made up of mostly freshmen, started a rally that pulled the Trenton squad back to the lead, 42-39 at the break. In the second quarter, Jett, a sophomore transfer from Laddonia, Missouri (Community HS) had a pair of three-point shots, while Whitley Richman, a freshman forward from Trenton High School, hit two baskets, both helpful in stemming the Archers momentum.
The third-quarter and fourth-quarter both played similarly, with North Central holding the lead, and having to fend off a series of St. Louis rallies. The final four minutes of the game was particularly nerve-wracking, with the Archers throwing their most desperate full-court pressure at North Central, with the Lady Pirates, even with a few turnovers, able to control the ball, and hitting just enough of their free throws, to earn the program’s biggest upset win in postseason play since knocking off a then-Top 5 ranked Penn Valley team in the Region 16 championship game in Nevada, Missouri in March 2003.
The leading front-court scorers for each side fouled out of Saturday night’s championship game, with UMKC bound sophomore Chrishana Wilson of St. Louis eliminated with five fouls early in the final quarter, while North Central sophomore Sarah Lamp fouled out with four minutes to play.
Despite shooting only 30 free throws to the 36 of St. Louis, NCMC was more productive from the line, hitting 23 of 30 for a 76.7% clip, while the Archers struggled from the stripe, going 19 of 36 for just 52.8 percent. Against the physical front-line of St. Louis, the Lady Pirates concentration on rebounding payed dividends, with North Central out-boarding the Archers 43-42.
Kendey Eaton, who as a high school senior at Mound City, had told Coach Jenni Croy she would “win a Region 16 title for the Lady Pirates”, delivered with a 26 point night to pace NCMC, including 5 of 6 free throws, and 3 of 5 three-point shooting accuracy. Lamp was a force on both sides of the floor before fouling out, showing leadership with her strong interior play, with 20 points and 12 rebound. Jett added 13 points for the Lady Pirates, with Nicole Kost, a freshman point guard from Mercer, scoring nine points, including seven from the free-throw line, mainly while facing the fierce full-court St. Louis pressure in the game’s final minutes.
Named All-Region 16 first-team selections from the Lady Pirates were Sarah Lamp and Kendey Eaton, while freshman Whitley Richman was named All-Region 16 second-team.
The win improves the Lady Pirates record to 23-9, and leaves North Central needing one more win to advance to the NJCAA Division Two National Tournament. Ironically, the location of the national tournament will be the same place where the Lady Pirates need to “win to get in”. On Saturday afternoon, March 10th, the Lady Pirates will play the North Arkansas Pioneers for the third time this season (Northark won the first two games), with the winner earning a spot in the national tournament (March 20th to the 24th). The game will be played in Harrison, Arkansas, about 20 miles across the Missouri line on U.S. Highway 65. The 1 o’clock tipoff (12:45 pregame) will be aired live on the “Home of the Pirates”, Hot Country Z 101.7, with Tom Johnson on the play-by-play call from Harrison. North Arkansas won the Region 2 championship with a recent victory against Mid-South (West Memphis, AR).
Photo credit – NCMC Athetics / NCMCPirates.com / Jefferson City, MO
