The North Central Missouri College women and men’s basketball teams claimed a pair of victories on Saturday afternoon at Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley in Kansas City, in action heard on Hot Country Z 101.7.
The Lady Pirates, coming off of a rare loss on Tuesday night to Southeast Community College, played sluggish for much of their game against MCC, but a third-quarter surge led by freshman forwards Kennadie Crowe and Maci Moore rallied NCMC from a nine-point halftime deficit to a fourth-quarter lead, with the Lady Pirates holding off a late rally for a 73-71 win, improving North Central to 15-4 on the season.
Moore led NCMC with 19 points, with Crowe adding 16. Sophomores Lily Osborn and Kortlyn Rounkles had 10 points each. Metropolitan, battling a depth disadvantage in the game with only six active student-athletes, had a spectacular performance from Mackenzie Callaway, with 37 points.
NCMC, with the #1 seed in Region 16, will host the region championship game on Saturday, April 3rd at 1 o’clock on Hot Country Z 101.7, with Metropolitan hosting St. Louis on Wednesday, with the winner earning the right to travel to Trenton on Saturday.
The Pirate men took care of business against Metropolitan, with a 106-95 victory, ending North Central’s regular season with a perfect 4-0 Region XVI record, and home-court advantage for the region title game on Saturday, April 3rd at 3:30.
Atavian Butler led North Central in Saturday’s victory with 31 points, followed by Jeramy Shaw with 14, Jackson Andrews with 12, and Darious Thomas with 10 points.
Metropolitan was paced by Travis Carson with 29 and Carlos Montilla with 26 points.
Metropolitan will travel to St. Louis Community College for a first-round region postseason game on Wednesday night at 7 o’clock.
