The basketball season is over for the North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates, and while the team did not achieve its season-long goal of a Region 16 championship, the 2016-2017 NCMC women’s squad will long be remembered as among the toughest in the decade-long run as Head Coach for Jenni Croy.
A season that saw North Central’s twin sisters, Asia and Dasia Young, lost to ACL injuries, ended in a 79-70 loss to St. Louis Community College on Saturday afternoon at Lincoln University in Jefferson City. The Lady Pirates, down to seven active players for the final seven weeks of their season, fell behind 21-16 after one quarter and 43-30 at the half to the Archers, and while the second half saw North Central outscore St. Louis 40-36, the early deficit proved too large for the Lady Pirates to overcome.
St. Louis won the Region 16 championship with a perfect 8-0 run through regular season play, and two wins in three days in Jefferson City (against Cottey and NCMC). Point guard Ellisha Davis led the Archers in Saturday’s final with 18 points and 7 steals. Scoring 17 points was Shamiah Oliver, while Chrishana Wilson added 15 points and Erika Harvey 10. The Lady Pirates had 20 points from sophomore forward McKinley Hurley, 18 points and 12 rebounds from Sarah Lamp, and 15 from Kendey Eaton.
Following the disappointing end to their season, three Lady Pirates received All-Region 16 first team honors, as Trenton native and sophomore McKinley Hurley join the freshman duo of Sarah Lamp and Kendey Eaton in receiving the honor. The end of basketball season also meant a quick turnaround to softball for NCMC sophomores Kelly Warford and McKinley Hurley, who joined Steve Richman’s Lady Pirates softball team in a Sunday doubleheader at Three Rivers Community College.
The Lady Pirates final victory of the season came on Thursday afternoon, as North Central, in action broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7, ran away from Penn Valley early, and held off a fourth-quarter Scouts rally, for a 74-61 Region 16 semifinal win.
Kendey Eaton had 27 points (21 in the first half) for the Lady Pirates, while Madison Gonseth had a strong double-double effort with 13 points and 18 rebounds, Sarah Lamp had 10 points and 12 boards, while Jami Nickerson had 13 points.
With the return of a strong group of freshman, led by Lamp and Eaton, and a locally-strong group of incoming recruits, including Mercer’s Nicole Kost and Lindsay Wyatt, and Trenton’s Whitley Richman, hopes are high that the Lady Pirates tenacity and talent will get NCMC back to the top of NJCAA D-2 Region 16 sooner rather than later.
