For the first half of Monday night’s home test against Kansas City Kansas Community College, the top-ranked (NJCAA D-2) North Central Missouri College Pirates were tested. With the normally reliable three-point shots not falling, the Pirates had to find different ways to put the ball in the hoop against a motivated Blue Devil side.
Riding a 21 point first half from freshman Atavian Butler in the first half, and a transition game that roared to life late to put the game out of the reach, the Pirates grabbed their 15th victory of the season, holding off KCK by a final score of 97-75. Butler, a product of Kirkwood High School, gouged the Devils defense consistently, finishing with a game-high 27 points. Doing most of their damage in the second half as KCK’s attention turned to slowing Butler, Marty Jackson finished the evening with 22 points and Quinan Rieves 21 for NCMC.
KCK, a different team from the one North Central defeated in Kansas City in November, was led by Jermaine Yarbough with 17 points, Deron McDaniel with 16, Jalen Davis with 13, and Calvin Slaughter’s 10. In late November, the Blue Devils lost bruising center Sevon Witt to a torn ACL, forcing head coach (and NCMC alum) Brandon Burgette to move to a quicker and more attacking style on the offensive end.
In Monday night’s opener from the Ketcham Community Center, also broadcast on Hot Country Z 101.7, the Lady Pirates moved to 12-5, overwhelming an overmatched Graceland University junior varsity squad, 94-47.
Freshman guard Lily Osborn led the Lady Pirates with 21 points, from redshirt freshman Kortlyn Rounkles adding 18, Kennedie Kieffer 13, and Dymeria Guillory 10 points. Graceland had 14 points from Hailey Lewis and 13 from Kaitlin Manning.
The Lady Pirates and Pirates next games will be this coming Saturday, January 18th, with North Central facing stern tests from Kansas City metro area teams. At 2 o’clock, the North Central women host nationally-ranked Kansas City Kansas, while at 4 o’clock, in the top showdown in the country in Division 2, the top-ranked Pirates host 5th-ranked Johnson County, in a rematch of a contest won by the Pirates in Overland Park in early December.
The North Central Missouri College athletic department has announced that this past Saturday’s games in St. Louis, postponed due to the weekend ice and snow storm, have been rescheduled for Saturday, February 22nd, one week before the Region XVI postseason tournament in Jefferson City. The women’s game on the 22nd tips at 1 o’clock and the men at 3 o’clock from the Forest Park campus of STLCC.
