The North Central Missouri College basketball teams will head to Jefferson City’s Lincoln University later this week, for Region 16 semifinal action against Metropolitan-Penn Valley, with both Pirate squads looking to rebound from weekend defeats at the Ketcham Community Center.
The Lady Pirates completed a 7-19 regular season with back-to-back losses, falling 53-49 on Sunday afternoon, despite a game-high 23 points from sophomore Hailey Burrows. Maddie Book had 9 points and Dymeria Guillory seven.
On Saturday, North Central’s squads took a pair of losses on Sophomore Recognition Day to the visiting North Arkansas Pioneers. In the women’s game, Karrisa Baber’s 30 points was not enough for NCMC, in a 73-59 loss to Northark. Maddie Book had 12 points for North Central.
The North Central men lost to Northark by a final score of 89-83, with Kenny Chambers scoring 26 points for the Pioneers, with Garrett Kesterson adding 11. The Pirates had 15 points from Marty Jackson, 14 from both Jordan Reece and Cameron Lockett, 12 from Quinan Rieves, and 11 points from Soloman Thomas.
On Thursday night, the Pirates picked up what would be their final regular season win of the season, 93-56 over the Central Methodist JV. At the time, North Central was 15-11, leaving their record heading into postseason play at 15-12. Thomas had 18 points in the North Central win, with Reece and sophomore Calvin Heidenwith each scoring 11.
On Saturday, February 16th, the Pirate teams split a doubleheader at Southeast Community College of Beatrice, Nebraska, with the Lady Pirates rally from a 21-point halftime deficit coming up short, 92-83. Burrows had 20 points, Baber 16, Megan Ernzen 13, and Book 11 for North Central.
The NCMC men picked up a quality road win on the 16th, winning in Beatrice, 88-79, with Jackson scoring 21 points, Reece 21, Thomas 12, and Rieves 11.
The North Central men’s semifinal game in Jefferson City, at 4 o’clock on Thursday afternoon, will be broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7, as will the Lady Pirates game at 4 o’clock on Friday afternoon (against MCC). Tom Johnson will have the play-by-play call of both contests. The championship games would be Saturday (men) and Sunday (women) from Lincoln University.
