The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates came into last Saturday’s regular season finale at St. Louis hopeful of a win that would have earned NCMC a first-round bye and automatic berth into the NJCAA D-2 Region XVI championship game. Two losses later, North Central, despite a strong record of 19-10 hit a sudden end to the 2019-2020 season.
Following a Saturday defeat at St. Louis that knocked the Lady Pirates into the semifinal round against Metropolitan CC, North Central came out of the gates flat in Thursday night’s semifinal, falling behind numerous times by double digits. A fourth-quarter rally got the Lady Pirates briefly to the lead, but two last second free throws by the Wolves, and an unsuccessful final possession by NCMC, spelled a heart-breaking end to the campaign, 60-59.
The win sends MCC (15-10) into the Region XVI championship game on Saturday afternoon at 4 o’clock against St. Louis, ending North Central’s season at 19-10. Thursday night’s game was played at Jason Gymnasium on the campus of Lincoln University in Jefferson City, and broadcast on KTTN FM 92.3.
Point guard Kianna Lane led the Wolves with 22 points while Elena Artis added 14. For North Central, Lily Osborn had 15 points, Kennedie Kieffer 14, and Da’Briauna Bables, in her final game as a Lady Pirate, 10 points.
While disappointed in the outcome, the future does look bright for North Central women’s basketball, with the Lady Pirates expected to return a majority of a freshman class considered one of the strongest brought in by Coach Jenni Croy. With three area student-athletes (Nora Ford, Jasmine Taylor, Kennedie Crowe) having recently inked with the 2020-2021 Lady Pirates, postseason success may return to the program sooner than later.
