The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates and Pirates claimed victories on the hardwood of the Ketcham Community Center on Tuesday night, with the ladies winning 65-45 over the Missouri Valley junior varsity, while the #1 ranked (NJCAA D-2) Pirate men took victory #20 of the season, in a 114-70 rout of the Culver Stockton JV.
The North Central women rebounded from Saturday’s disappointing region opening loss to St. Louis, with redshirt freshman Kortlyn Rounkles scoring 23 points for the Lady Pirates, now 14-7 on the season. The Lady Pirates outscored MVC in all four quarters, slowly building the lead through consistent strong play. Da’Briauna Bables had ten points and nine rebounds, with McKenzie McBee eight off the bench.
Coach Jeremy Esry’s Pirate men, with seven games left on the regular season slate, improved to 20-1. Jackson Andrews led the Pirates on Tuesday with a game-high 20 points, pacing seven North Central players in double figures.
The Pirate men host the Missouri Valley JV on Thursday night at 7 o’clock before traveling down Interstate 35 on Saturday for a Region XVI doubleheader on the Penn Valley Community College campus with the Metropolitan CC Wolves. Both the women’s game at 2 and men’s game at 4 can be heard on Hot Country Z 101.7, with Tom Johnson on the play-by-play call. Pregame hits the air at 1:45 from the A. Fred Pohlman Fieldhouse.
On Wednesday morning, the Lady Pirates got outstanding news on the recruiting trail, with all-KCI Conference point guard Nora Ford of Hamilton, Missouri committing to play for Coach Jenni Croy for the 2020-2021 season, adding immediate scoring and speed to the Lady Pirates roster.
