The North Central Missouri College women’s and men’s basketball teams opened the annual “NCMC Classic” with a pair of dominating victories on Friday night over the Graceland JV, only to fall in their attempts to swing weekend sweeps on Saturday afternoon at the Ketcham Community Center.
On Friday night, the Lady Pirates improved to 3-1 by throttling the visiting Yellowjackets, 93-53, with Angel Wiggins scoring 18 points, Kortlyn Rounkles 16, and Lily Osborn 15 for NCMC. Against a traveling team of former high-level collegiate players named “Livin’ the Dream”, the Lady Pirates started fast on Saturday, but slumped late, falling by the total of 71-66. Rounkles had 16, Brittany McKay 12, and Da’Briauna Bables 11 for North Central, who will try to get back in the win column on Monday night, playing at the Central Methodist (Fayette, MO) junior varsity.
The Pirate men obliterated Graceland on Friday night, 105-51, improving to 4-0 on the season. Quinan Rieves and Marty Jackson led a balanced NCMC attack with 16 points each. On Saturday, against 7th ranked Parkland College (Champaign, IL), the Pirates jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but the visiting Cobras slowly used stifling defense and sound half-court offense to get the pace to their liking, eventually wearing out the Pirates in a 74-61 final score.
Joey Saracco led PC with 20 points, with Charles Campbell adding 13 and Carter Jeffries 12 points. The Pirates, suffering their first loss of the season, had 23 points from Jackson. Both the NCMC women’s and men’s games on Saturday afternoon were broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7.
Tuesday’s home matchup against Kansas Christian University has been cancelled and will be rescheduled at a later date. That makes Friday’s matchup with Labette Community College in the KCK Shootout the next action for the Pirates who have an overall record of 4-1.
