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MCC women leading the nation at foul line
McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook Community College women’s basketball teams begin the second semester of play Saturday in the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center starting at 2 p.m. against Central Community College.
The MCC men were supposed to play Central but that game has been postponed because of Covid-19 protocol with the CCC team.
Saturday will be the first of four games the women will play before the semester starts Jan. 16 (three for the men). Before the postponement of the men’s game with Central, both teams were set to play nine games this month including five home January games and four on the road.
The MCC women, 7-6, will face the 6-6 Lady Raiders in a Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference matchup Saturday at 2 p.m.
MCC won the first meeting in Columbus Nov. 23 ,taking a 74-69 win in overtime.
MCC will also be home Tuesday to face Lamar at 5:30 p.m. in a Region IX matchup with the 6-9 Lady Lopes before hitting the road.Despite a 10-game losing stream in November, the MCC men won two of three December games and look to improve on a 3-12 start that included games against eight teams ranked in the NJCAA Top 25 polls.
The men will kick off Region IX south play Tuesday against Lamar (8-5) as the second part of a men’s women’s doubleheader at about 7:30 p.m.
THE MCC WOMEN lead the nation in free throw percentage, connecting on 75.1 percent of its shots. They make an average of 14.6 free throws per game and take 19.5 per game. The team ranks 112th in scoring at 62.9 points per game and shoots 40.8 from the field and 29.3 percent from the 3-point line.
Forward Maite Lara Garcia (Sant Joan Despi, Spain ) leads the team averaging 14.8 points per game along with 5.8 rebounds. She shoots 53 percent from the floor and has made the sixth most free throws in the nation (69) and is connecting on 83.1 percent of her shots from the line.
Vanessa Jurewicz (Stockholm, Sweden) is averaging 11.8 points per game from the point guard slot along with a team-high 2.9 assists. Over her final six games she’s averaged 18 points per game. She’s made 80 percent of her 45 free throws.
Second year freshman Valentina Monzo (Santiago, Chile ) missed seven games, but averaged 10.7 points and 3.7 rebounds in the six games she played. She’s 57.1 percent from the field, 47.1 percent from the 3-point line and made 16 of 22 free throws (72.7 percent).
Alyssa Van Vleet (Oberlin, Kan.) has played in nine games for MCC and started eight, averaging 8.3 points and 4.3 rebounds per game, shooting 87 percent from the free-throw line (15th best in the NJCAA).
Super sophomore Carla Torrubia Cano (Melilla, Spain) has started all 13 games for MCC and is averaging 7.9 points and a team-leading 6.8 rebounds per game.
For the MCC men, second-year freshman Julian Lual (Calgary, Alberta) leads the team averaging 15.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2 assists per game.
Three other players are averaging more than 10 points a game including Damien Perry (Wareham, Mass.) 11.1 points per game; Beni Fungula (Stockholm, Sweded) 10.2 points per game; and DaMiene Boles Jr. (Dayton, Ohio) 10.1 points per game.
Sophomores Martin Poznanovic (Uzice, Serbia) has started 12 games at post for MCC and is averaging 5.7 points 3.7 rebounds a game while D’Andre’ Dennis (Charlotte, N.C.) has started nine games and is averaging 7.4 points.
Watch for more as the season hits full speed again this week.