The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates played one of their most impressive, thorough games of the season on Tuesday afternoon, winning their first game of the team’s annual Winter Break trip to Miami, Florida, 78-53 over Indian River State College. Â
Indian River, out of Fort Pierce, Florida, and known as the “Pioneers”, fell to a record of 5-6 with the loss to the Lady Pirates, while NCMC stretched its record to 11-2, and ran its winning streak to 10 games in a row, with the dominating victory. Â
This (Wednesday) afternoon at 4:30, North Central will play the Miami-Dade Sharks in the second and final game of their Florida trip, and final game before Holiday Break. Miami-Dade is 5-5 on the season. having last played on Saturday, December 2nd in a 92-87 win over Daytona State College. The Lady Pirates defense should be tested by a Sharks squad averaging 75.9 points per game.
Miami-Dade has a potent three-pronged attack that features three women that can “fill the net”, with freshman guard Ganette Chism averaging 17.3 points per game, sophomore forward Cheah Rael-Whitsitt at 13.4, and sophomore center Savannah Clark with a team-high 17.9 points per game.
The Lady Pirates, courtesy of their 10-game winning streak, and an attention grabbing victory at Kansas City Kansas last week, have surged into this week’s NJCAA Division Two national poll, going from un-ranked a week ago to #15 in the country this week.
North Central has 30 points, moving ahead of KCK, who fell six spots to #17. Other notables in the national poll are #1 ranked Monroe Community College, North Central’s Region 16 rival St. Louis, the highest ranked unbeaten squad in the country, with a 10-0 mark and #3 spot, Highland (Kansas) Community College at #7, Johnson County Community College of Overland Park, Kansas at #9, and North Arkansas College, a potential road-block for a potential national tournament trip for the Lady Pirates come March, checking in at #12.
