MCC women ready to shake off rough N.M. trip

McCOOK, Neb. — The McCook Community College women’s basketball team returns to the court Saturday for a 2 p.m. home game against conference foe Central Community College.

MCC finished the first half of the schedule at 7-7 which included three straight losses in New Mexico against three teams with 29 combined wins, including No. 5 New Mexico Junior College.

Until that tournament, MCC’s losses were by three and five points and seven-point losses in the other three games.

“That last weekend was rough for us playing three really good teams that will challenge for their regional championships but overall I thought we had a good first semester,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett.

Saturday’s game is a rematch of a Nov. 21 game in which MCC won 71-62 in the Nebraska Community College Athletic Conference matchup.

The Lady Raiders lost 14 games to start the season, then won two of its final four games to start January at 2-16.

“I like where we’re at coming back from break, condition-wise and from the mental aspect,” said Pritchett. “Central will be a little different than when we played the first time and we’ll be a lot different but it’s nice to be home to start the second half.”

After losing two starters for the season in the first eight games, MCC is still trying to find its identity. Natalie Harmata (sophomore, Sydney, Australia) was averaging 9.3 points, 3.0 rebounds and shooting 45.2 percent from the field through four games before a knee injury ended her season. Likewise, Ebba Zalamans (sophomore, Stockhom, Sweden) was leading the south with 8.9 rebounds per game and 6.8 points before her season ended.

Sophomore Gemma Gruettner Bacoul (Berlin, Germany) leads MCC and Region IX in scoring at 18.2 points per game. She is averaging 6.1 rebounds per game (fifth best in the south division), is shooting 38 percent from the 3-point line, which is second best in the south division, and 3.1 assists per game which is also second best in the south.

Suzan Sisman (Aarhus, Denmark), sophomore guard who transferred from Muskegon Community College, is second on the team averaging 10.4 points per game and is shooting 36.9 percent from the 3-point arc (fourth best in the north division of Region IX).

From the point-guard spot sophomore Audra Vine (Thornton, Colo., Fort Lewis College) is scoring 6.9 points and 2.2 assists per game and freshman Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) is averaging 7.4 points and 1.6 assists per game.

From the forward spots, Noa Iglesias Chorda (sophomore, Barcelona, Spain) is averaging 5.6 points and 4.2 rebounds per game and sophomore Rebecca Dunn (Colorado Springs, Colo.) is averaging 4.5 points and 4.4 boards.