The North Central Missouri College women had two chances in January to pick up statement victories against squads higher than them in the NJCAA Division Two national poll, but came up short in a home loss to St. Louis and a road loss to North Arkansas. Admittedly not playing at their best in either game, the Lady Pirates had to sit on the loss to Northark for five days, before hosting the Graceland University JV on Thursday night.
In their test against the Yellowjackets, the Lady Pirates built a lead over the first two quarters, up 21-17 after 10 minutes, and 39-28 at the half, before blitzing the visitors from Lamoni in a third quarter flourish, 28-6, cruising to a 92-45 victory.
The Lady Pirates, now #19 in the country in the latest D-2 poll, were led by 18 points from Kendey Eaton, and an 18 point, 16 rebound night from Sarah Lamp. Hailey Burrows had 12 points and Nicole Kost 10 for NCMC.
Back in the win column, Jenni Croy’s team have another chance to earn a season-defining victory, this time on the road. On Saturday afternoon, North Central will play the St. Louis Archers in a 1 o’clock contest from the Forest Park campus of St. Louis Community College. Pregame hits the air at 12:45 on Hot Country Z 101.7, with Tom Johnson on the play-by-play call. Boosted by their dominant mid-January victory at the Ketcham Community Center, St. Louis will come into the Region 16 rematch ranked #4 in the country.
The Pirate men, looking to sweep the regular-season series with St. Louis, will battle the Archers at 3 o’clock on Saturday afternoon, also on Hot Country Z 101.7. Both North Central games will also be audio streamed on KTTNSports.com (Click on KTTN link), and available from KTTN on Tune-In Radio.
