MCC women host Casper to see whose playoff life becomes ghost

The McCook Community College women’s basketball team will host Casper College Saturday at 1 p.m. to open the Region IX post-season tournament.

On the last-day of the regular season, MCC leap-frogged past North Platte to finish in fourth place and became one of the three teams in the Region IX South to host first-round games this weekend.

“We had a four-game lull where we just were not executing well and weren’t 100 percent healthy and we played some teams that were on a roll,” said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. “But we finished the season on a high note and have responded this week with some really good practices.”

In the south division of Region IX, top-seeded Lamar (12-2) received a first-round bye. No. 2 Western Nebraska (10-4) hosts the seventh place team in the north, Laramie County Community College (1-11). No. 3 Otero (9-5) hosts No. 6 Eastern Wyoming (4-8). MCC will get the north’s fifth seed in Casper.

“This has to be the best number five seed we’ll ever play,” said Pritchett of the Thunderbirds, who finished the season 22-8 and have won the past four Region IX Tournaments.

In the North Division, Western Wyoming (8-4) claimed the top seed in a tie-breaker over Gillette College and Northwest College. Western Wyoming will have a first-round bye, second-seeded Gillette (8-4) will host the south’s seventh seed, Southeast Community College (5-9). Third seeded Northwest College (8-4) hosts sixth-seeded Northeastern Junior College (5-9), and fourth-seeded Central Wyoming (7-5) will host fifth-seeded North Platte (7-7) on Saturday.

AFTER A PROMISING START to the Region IX South schedule, the Lady Indians were in first place after playing all other teams one time through the league and were 6-1. However, the Lady Indians lost six of eight games the second time through region and finished with an 8-6 record – good for fourth in the standings among the eight teams. Between Feb. 11 and Feb. 27 MCC lost four straight region games before winning the season finale last weekend against last-place Trinidad State.

Getting a first-round home game was big for MCC because the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center has become a tough place for opponents. This year MCC went 10-5 at home and over the past three seasons, the Lady Indians have won 72 percent of their home games.

Another promising sign for the post-season is that MCC went 5-4 against teams from the Region IX North including a 67-66 loss to top-seeded Western Wyoming in the Casper Thanksgiving Classic, a 74-68 win over second-seeded Gillette at home on Dec. 16, and an early-season one-point loss to Casper College, 67-66 in the McCook Classic Nov. 8. The Lady Indians also swept Eastern Wyoming, split with Laramie County Community College and beat Central Wyoming 65-52.

MCC also had wins against the second and third-place teams in the south, claiming a 58-56 win over Western Nebraska at home Jan. 28 and a 74-66 win over Otero Jan. 16 at home. Against top-seeded Lamar, the Lady Indians lost 49-45 in Colorado Jan. 21 and 52-45 in overtime at home on Feb. 4.

THE LADY INDIANS BY THE NUMBERS: MCC averages 60.2 points per game (last among the seven Region IX south teams still playing), shoots 37.9 percent from the field (third best in the south region), 30.8 percent from the 3-point line (best in the south region), and 65 percent from the free-throw line. The team averages eight more rebounds per game than their opponents – 40.2 to 32.1, but MCC turned the ball over an average of 17.1 times per game.

Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) led MCC in scoring during the regular season averaging 13.1 points and was second with 5.4 rebounds per game. She ranked seventh among Region IX south players and led the south in 3-point shooting, averaging 38.2 percent from the 3-point line.

Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany) averaged 8.3 points, Stephanie Nnabuihe (freshman, Newbridge, Ireland) averaged 6.6 points and led the team with 7.7 rebounds per game, which was fourth most in the south region.

Carolina Garcia Perdomo (sophomore, Islas Canarias, Spain) led MCC with 3.1 assists per game and averages 6.1 points. She shot 36.7 percent from the 3-point line. Freshman Mar Molina Munoz (Parets del Valles, Spain) averaged 6.3 points.

THUNDERBIRD LEADERS: Casper went 22-8 on the season, 6-6 in the Region IX north and 4-5 in road games. The team averages 66.9 points per game, shoots 38.3 percent from the field, 29.0 percent from the 3-point line and 71.4 percent from the free-throw line. The T-Birds average 39.8 rebounds per game and average 7.2 more boards per game than their opponent.

Sophomore point-guard Luna Ueda missed six games and Pritchett believes that if she had been healthy the Thunderbirds would probably be the north’s top seed and hosting the tournament. In her absence, Casper was 2-3 including blown out losses to Gillette and Western Wyoming and a 59-58 loss to Eastern Wyoming. She averaged 12.0 points and 3.4 assists per game.

Sophomore Hassana Amandu leads all Region IX players with 9.7 rebounds per game and leads her team scoring 12.1 points per game. Sophomore post Csenge Szomszed averages 10.8 points and 4.5 rebounds per game.

“They have the ability to score the ball with five or six players and we’re going to have to lock in defensively and not allow them to have the easy shots,” said Pritchett. “On the offensive side we have to execute and create opportunities for each other in order to be successful.”

MCC VS. CASPER: The Lady Indians played the Thunderbirds Nov. 8 at home and got down by 18 points midway through the third period but came back to take a fourth-quarter lead before Casper scored the game-winner with 21 seconds left in the game. Johanna Gerlach led MCC with 15 points. Laia Izquierdo Altimira scored 13 points and had four rebounds. Mar Molina Munoz put in 10 points with four boards. Jacelyn Jorgensen had eight rebounds. The Lady Indians held the T-Birds to 25 percent shooting in the second half and outrebounded Casper 41-32. Amaia Jones led Casper with 16 points while Hassana Amandu led the T-Birds with 17 rebounds and made 11 of 12 free throws.

In their second meeting in Casper on the Friday after Thanksgiving, Casper jumped to a 16-8 first-quarter lead but MCC responded with a 22-15 second-quarter edge and trailed at the half 31-30. The Thunderbirds stretched the lead to 46-40 after three quarters and outscored the Lady Indians 24-13 over the final period. Luna Ueda and Hassana Amadu paced Casper with 20 and 18 points. Stephanie Nnabuihe and Mar Molina Munoz led MCC with 12 and 11 points. MCC outrebounded Casper 33-29 but turned the ball over 20 times.

“They’ll come in with some difficult looks than we saw the first two times we played them, and we’ve improved in some areas too with some different personnel and roles,” said Pritchett. “It won’t be an easy matchup but in the post-season there aren’t many of those. We’re looking forward to the challenge.”

The winner of Saturday’s game advances to the three-day Region IX tournament March 12-14 in Rock Springs, Wyoming.