The North Central Missouri College traveled deep into Nebraska over the weekend, returning home with a win at North Platte Community College on Saturday, but a regular season ending loss at Southeast (Beatrice, NE) Community College on Sunday, giving the nationally ranked Lady Pirates their fifth loss of the season.
On Saturday afternoon, the North Central ladies improved to 22-4 on the season and completed a season sweep of the North Platte Knights with a hard-earned 61-54 victory. Toya Bethel came off the bench to lead the Lady Pirates with 14 points and six rebounds, with Nora Ford scoring 13 and Angel Wiggins 12 points.
The NCMC defense was particularly stout in the win, holding the Knights to less than 15 points in the first three quarters, with NPCC led by 16 points from Kayla Pope, 15 from Diamond Moore-Heath, and 10 points from Janay Brauer.
Following their victory in North Platte, the Lady Pirates began the trek back to Trenton, but stopped in southeast Nebraska’s Beatrice after a second meeting with the Southeast Community College Storm. In another close duel with a much-improved SCC squad, North Central came up short in a 78-75 final score.
Josiee Sobotka led the Storm with 23 points, with Hunter Hartshorn adding 14, Kaylee Klover 12, and Addy Esquivel 10 points. NCMC had a stronger offensive game in Beatrice than in North Platte, but the defense struggled to get stops, with Nora Ford leading the Lady Pirates with 20 points, with Kennadie Crowe contributing 13 points, Jordan Hibner and Maci Moore 12 each, and Angel Wiggins 10 for NCMC.
With a 22-5 season, and a perfect 4-0 run through Region XVI in the regular season, the Lady Pirates will play in the NJCAA D-2 Region XVI championship game at Lincoln University in Jefferson City on Friday night at 5 o’clock, against either Metropolitan or St. Louis. A region championship victory would send North Central back to the Ketcham Community Center for a district championship game on Saturday, March 5th.
