In early November, North Central Missouri College locked horns with Johnson County Community College in a basketball battle at the Ketcham Community Center. In an otherwise strong start to the season, the second half saw a halftime lead evaporate in an 18 point loss to the Cavaliers. The Cavaliers used that momentum and additional victories over the course of the month to surge to #2 in the country.
On Saturday, the Pirates and Cavaliers had their rematch in Overland Park, with North Central leaning on a strong backcourt effort from Isaiah Reams (25 points) and Giovanni Mack (24 points) to an upset win at JoCo 95-82, an effort that improved North Central to 8-4 on the season, and kept the Pirates in Monday’s Top 20 in the national poll, with a Wednesday loss at Southwestern (Iowa) only dropping the Pirates from 19th to 20th. Johnson County put four players in double figures, led by 24 points from Brandon Mann.
While the Pirate men played in Overland Park, the Lady Pirates, ranked #4 in the country, played Kansas City Kansas Community College for the second time in five days, battling the Blue Devils at Rockhurst University, as KCK is forced to use alternate home sites in 2023-2024 due to renovations to the campus fieldhouse in Kansas City, Kansas.
Unlike a low-scoring defensive battle at the Ketcham Center on Tuesday night, the rematch was much higher scoring, with the contest going to overtime. The Lady Pirates survived, using scoring balance and roster depth to take down KCKCC 89-80. Jessica Reeter paced the Lady Pirates with 20 points, with Tori Meinecke scoring 16 (including 8-for-12 from the free throw line), Gladys Brown 14, Oliviya Tinoco 13, and LaKorria Brown 10. Nateonia Russell contributed 8 rebounds and six assists. The Lady Pirates improve to 10-1. Jada Johnson had 36 points to led the Blue Devils, with Symiah Bradley 10 points. Kansas City Kansas dropped to a record of 5-5. Monday night’s loss to Johnson County dropped the Lady Pirates from #4 to #9 in this week’s NJCAA Division Two poll, released in the 1 o’clock hour on Monday afternoon.
The Lady Pirates and Pirates play at Ben Allen Fieldhouse in Highland, Kansas against the Highland Community College Scotties on Wednesday night, with women’s tip at 5:30 and men’s tip at 7:30 on KGOZ FM 101.7.
