The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates scored the basketball well on Wednesday afternoon in Miami, Florida, with sophomore guard Kendey Eaton lighting up the nets of the Sunshine State with a 33 point performance. Sarah Lamp added 18 points and 8 rebounds, with the Lady Pirates, as a team, scoring 82 points.
While that number, most games, will be good enough for a North Central victory this season, that would not be the case on Wednesday. The Miami-Dade College Sharks, playing on their home floor, shot the ball at a high-octane level, with Ganette Chism scoring 26 points and Cheah Rael-Whitsitt 20, while Savannah Clark led the Sharks with 27, as Miami-Dade beat NCMC 103-82.
Jany Miranda was the only bench player for either side to reach double figures, adding 12 for the Sharks, who are 6-5 with the victory. While the loss was not the way the Lady Pirates wanted to end their South Florida swing, there are a ton of positives coming out of the fall semester for the Lady Pirates. The loss did end a 10-game winning streak, but the Lady Pirates head into 2018 with a record of 11-3, with one of the losses, an early November defeat to KCK at the Ketcham Center, paid back in December when North Central won on the Blue Devils floor. While not scoring at the same pace as a year ago, the sophomore duo of Eaton and Lamp remain solid, while fellow sophomore Madison Gonseth found her scoring game in the fourth quarter of the come-from-behind win at KCK.
The Lady Pirates freshman group has adjusted quickly to the collegiate pace and have become key cogs in the North Central engine, while transfer Samm Jett has become an instant starter, and one of the most consistent players on the NCMC roster.
The goal of reaching the national tournament looks daunting for Jenni Croy’s team, as unbeaten St. Louis (10-0) is ranked #3 in the country and sits as a significant roadblock to a Region 16 title. The Archers visit the Ketcham Center at 2 PM on January 13th. The likely opponent for North Central, in the event of a region title, would be North Arkansas, a team also strong and ranked in the Top 20. North Central Missouri College heads into the Holidays ranked #15 in the latest NJCAA Division Two national rankings.
