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MCC women roll to 10th win of season
Coaches in any sport can usually find a little bit of criticism on the performances of their athletes and teams.
Most coaches will always find a little fault with some facet of their team's and individual athlete's effort, in an effort to keep the athletes and teams striving to get better.
McCook Community College head women's basketball coach Benjamin Smith is right at the top of that list. Smith's Indians ran past Colorado Christian, 83-60, in non-conference action Tuesday evening at True Hall gym on the MCC campus in McCook.
Strong first half
The hosts sprinted to a 44-22 halftime lead, then played even with the Colorado squad in the second half.
"I was pretty satisfied with the first-half performance," Coach Smith said. "Just a couple giveaways in the first half. We had a couple a couple times where we didn't execute.
"In the second half we got a little bit looser, and that's tough. A team that's desperate for points, (Colorado Christian) started shooting shots that you wouldn't necessarily classify as good shots, and they were throwing them in the ocean.
"To give them credit, they were making some shots that they probably wouldn't even normally have shot."
Florida connection
Davina Jefferson, freshman from Miami, Florida, scored seven unanswered points to give MCC a 70-44 lead with just under four minutes left. Jefferson led McCook with 17 points.
Porsche Shakes, freshman from West Palm Beach, Florida, did much of the damage for the hosts in the first half. Shakes scored 14 of her 16 points in the opening 20 minutes.
Alayna White, freshman from Worchester, Massachusetts, and Elle Hiester, sophomore from Monument, Colorado, each had 9 points for MCC.
There will be plenty of lessons for the Indians from Tuesday's game despite the comfortable victory margin.
"I still think we had some letdowns defensively," Coach Smith said. "We'll learn from it. We'll definitely watch some film, learn how to close the game better, learn how to be a team that competes no matter what the scoreboard says, just for the sake of competition, just for the sake of the sport and continuing to get better and using games as practice time."
Ten wins before holiday break
The MCC women improved their season record to 10-4, and Coach Smith said getting 10 wins this early in the season was quite an accomplishment.
"Not in my time here, I don't think it's been done in quite a while," Smith said of the 10-win mark. "Ten and four going into our last game, with a chance to get to 11-4 (before the Christmas break). That's important to the girls because a lot of films go out, a lot of phone calls are made over Christmas, with recruiting for our sophomores. Our record is going to reflect -- it's not always the case, but typically the record reflects whether you've got high-level players, four-year players or not. So it's good from that standpoint, for their individual recruitment standpoint.
"It really means nothing to us as far as conference, sub-region play, region play, but it's a great way to get us ready, get us mentally prepared, and understand what's going to be expected in a grueling season."
Final home game before Christmas
The McCook women have one final game before a break for the holidays. MCC is set to host the Hastings College junior varsity Dec. 10 at True Hall gym, with tip-off set for 6 p.m.