The basketball teams at North Central Missouri College, for the second time in less than a week, will take on the Southwestern Community College Spartans. After splitting their doubleheader on Wednesday night in Creston, Iowa (79-65 women’s win, 112-80 men’s loss), the Pirate teams host the Spartans tonight (Tuesday night) at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton.
The women’s game at 5:30 and the men’s game at 7:30 will be available on KGOZ-TV (www.youtube.com/KTTNRadio), with Tom Johnson on the play-by-play call.
The Lady Pirates hopes of being an improved squad are showing fruit five games into the season. North Central, coming off a blowout win over the Graceland JV on Friday night, sits at 3-2, and with the momentum of a two-game winning streak, coming off back-to-back losses two weekends ago to Johnson County (KS) and Fort Scott (KS).
In their road win at Southwestern on November 9th, Sarah Lamp was dominant for NCMC, as the freshman forward from Kirksville had 24 points to go with 18 rebounds, giving Southwestern a problem on the defensive end they will be looking to correct in the rematch.
Coach Jeremy Esry’s Pirates are off to a fine start in the Hamilton native’s rookie season at the helm of NCMC. North Central rallied for a three-point victory on Saturday against the Lincoln Land (IL) Community College Loggers, sending the Pirates to a record of 3-1, but staring at a rematch against a SWICC team that dominated the Pirates on November 9th.
In the first meeting between the teams, Southwestern jumped out to a 12-0 first half lead, and never trailed in beating North Central 112-80. SWICC’s offense was dynamic and quick, and difficult for the Pirates to slow down, with improvement defensively needed tonight if the Pirates are to upset the 11th ranked team in the country (NJCAA Division Two).
In the first meeting, Jordan Johnson had 22 points and Brodric Thomas 20 for SWICC. Teyontae Jenkins had 17 points and Jalen Gant 12 for North Central, although all 29 of those combined points came in the second half that saw the Pirates trailing by double digits throughout.
The North Central Missouri College men’s basketball team has had a scheduling change for Thursday of this week (November 17th) with the Culver-Stockton College JV. Originally, the teams were scheduled to play in Trenton on Thursday, but that date has now been changed to Monday, February 20, 2017, with a 7:00 PM start time at the Ketcham Commuitiy Center. The conflict is a result of finals week for Culver-Stockton.
