Down six points at the half and struggling to slow down State Fair’s potent offensive attack, the North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates were in danger of absorbing their fourth loss of the season on Sunday afternoon.
However, the Lady Pirates, after giving up 46 points in the first half, held D-1 State Fair to just 29 second half points, as NCMC beat the Roadrunners 90-75.
In action heard on Hot Country Z 101.7, Maci Moore had a season-high 27 points for North Central, with Ianara Morbidoni adding 18, Nora Ford 14, and Kennadie Crowe 11 points. The win keeps the Lady Pirates at #17 in the country in the latest NJCAA D-2 poll, released on Monday afternoon. NCMC will play one game on Friday afternoon and another on Saturday, in the Lady Pirates annual Winter Break trip to Miami, Florida.
The win improves North Central to 8-3 on the season, with SFCC stumbling to 9-5. The Roadrunners, out of Sedalia, Missouri, were led by Autumn Wallace with 20 points. Biance Stocks contributed 17, and Perryanna Youmans and Kayla Dooley (Norborne, MO) each scoring 11.
On Saturday afternoon, the NCMC men finished the 2022 portion of their season with a 72-69 win, rallying, just as the women did 24 hours later, from a halftime deficit at Johnson County Community College.
Down 33-25 at the half, the Pirates scored 47 points after the break in an intensely played rematch of a game played in Trenton two weeks later. Kam Bevel had 17 points, with Gerald Gittens scoring 16, Isaiah Reams 13, and Carlton Thomas 10 for North Central, now 11-4 on the season. Johnson County had a game-high 27 points from Xavier Kahube with Tymer Jackson adding 22. The Cavaliers are now 9-4 on the campaign.
