The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates, upon looking at this week’s NJCAA Division Two rankings, felt admittedly slighted. Jenni Croy’s team, coming into Wednesday night’s game at Kansas City Kansas Community College, had a seven-game winning streak, with the only two losses of their season to nationally ranked Johnson County and KCK. Yet, in the rankings, there was no mention of the Lady Pirates, even though North Central had blasted the 20th-ranked team in the country, Bryant and Stratton, last month in Quincy, Illinois.
For the first three quarters of Wednesday night’s game, it appeared that North Central would be relegated to their third loss of the season, and second in head-to-head competition against the 11th-ranked Blue Devils. Then, the fourth quarter began.
With a renewed intensity on defense led by the pressure of freshman guard Nicole Kost, the overall hustle of freshman forward Whitley Richman, and fierce rebounding from sophomore Madison Gonseth, the Lady Pirates outscored KCK 30-14 over the final 10 minutes, rallying for a 79-76 victory that pushes North Central’s record to 9-2, winners of eight consecutive games.
After the Lady Pirates, boosted by hitting four free throws with 2 1/2 minutes remaining (two on a personal foul and two on a technical foul), cut the lead to one, the final minutes of the game saw the teams battle back and forth for the lead. Kost gave the Lady Pirates the advantage on a driving lay-up with a half-minute to go. Tom Johnson had the play-by-play call:
A missed possession by KCK, and a foul to stop the clock, sent the Lady Pirates to the line, where a 1 for 2 trip pushed the North Central lead to 76-74. An offensive rebound and baseline put-back by Blue Devil sophomore Kisi Young tied the game with 3.7 second remaining:
The game was decided on a foul by KCK sophomore Kisi Young on a 40-foot heave by Samm Jett, as the Lady Pirates were in the process of scrambling for a potential buzzer-beater. Jett’s free throws gave the Lady Pirates a 79-76 win.
In a game broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7 and UClickTV, sophomore guard Kendey Eaton led the Lady Pirates with 17 points, four rebounds, and three assists, and Madison Gonseth had 15 points, including 12 in a fantastic fourth quarter performance that perhaps is the best played in a Lady Pirate uniform for the native of Murray, Iowa. Whitley Richman continues to sparkle in the sixth-man role, with 14 points and 7 rebounds. Samm Jett, who hit three game-winning free throws with 0.3 seconds remaining, finished with 15 points.
Head Coach Jenni Croy commented on the season-defining victory in the post-game show:
Young finished with 21 points and 14 rebounds for the Blue Devils, while Lillie Moore had 16 points. Miya Ford and Tyrionne Martin both had nine. The Blue Devils fall to 12-2 on the season.
The Lady Pirates will next be in action on Saturday afternoon, hosting the William Penn JV at 2 o’clock inside the Ketcham Community Center. Next week, the NCMC ladies travel to Miami, Florida for games on back-to-back days to finish the fall semester, playing Indian River State College on Tuesday afternoon at 1 o’clock and Miami-Dade College Wednesday afternoon at 4:30.
