The North Central Missouri College women’s and men’s basketball teams took it on the chin Wednesday night, dropping a doubleheader to State Fair Community College of Sedalia in action at the Ketcham Community Center.
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The North Central Missouri College women’s and men’s basketball teams took it on the chin Wednes-day night, dropping a doubleheader to State Fair Community College of Sedalia in action at the Ketcham Community Center.
A lack of rebounding and turnovers hurt the Lady Pirates, who fell to State Fair, 116-71. A second-half scoring barrage by State Fair cost the NCMC men in their contest, 84-68.
Lady Pirates
Lady Pirates Coach James Arnold said his team “played scared” against the Division I Lady Roadrunners, who dominated NCMC in nearly all phases of the contest.
“We had watched them on film and when we got out on the floor, we were scared to death of them,” Arnold said.
State Fair stayed out in front of the Lady Pirates by 10 points throughout most of the first half, stretching the lead to 17 points at the intermission, 56-39. The Lady Roadrunners came out in the second half and dominated the contest, running the score up to over 40 points at several times in the final 20 minutes of the contest.
“We knew going in that we needed to get offensive rebounds and go after loose balls to have a chance to win, but we didn’t do that,” Arnold said. “We let them get several chances at the basket, which they were able to convert.”
And things don’t get any easier for the Lady Pirates, who are traveling to Colorado this weekend to play three games in the Air Force Prep Tournament in Colorado Springs. NCMC takes on Air Force Prep on Friday, then will likely play Chariton, which is the defending NCJAA national champion.
“We know it’s not going to get any better for us and that we could go through a rough spot right now,” Arnold said. “This (against State Fair) was one we can learn from and this will make us a better team down the road.”
Stephanie Beason led the Lady Pirates with 25 points. Tia Kleoppel had four rebounds. Arnold gave special mention to Beason, whom he said came “ready to play,” and Bridgette Berry, who came in off the bench and provided some quality minutes at the guard spot.
“She played super well,” Arnold said.
State Fair was led by Ashlee Woodard with 24 and Nadia Sensing with 23. Brittani Calhoun added 17.
The Lady Pirates are 3-2 on the season.
Pirates
Had it not been for the first eight minutes of the second half, the NCMC men could have just as well came away with a victory.
“We just didn’t get done what we needed to get done,” Coach Steve Richman said. “We had a stretch there right after halftime when they outscored us eight to nine points and that ended up being the difference.”
State Fair jumped out to an early lead, but the Pirates were able to keep the score close and trailed by just one point at the half, 46-45.
“I really thought we went toe-to-toe for 33 minutes with a pretty good Division I team,” Richman said. “We stayed with them early and put ourselves in a situation to win the game.”
The Roadrunners came out and scored nine straight points to put up a 10-point lead before the Pirates got on the board. NCMC was able to pull the game within seven points with about three minutes left to play, which Richman said was still enough time for the Pirates to gain the victory.
“We had opportunities with about three minutes left and had the ball three or four times, but threw it away,” Richman said. “We need to be better about taking care of the ball in those situations.”
Richman said he felt the team, for the most part, “played hard and gave a good effort.”
“We’re playing hard, there’s just a few things we need to work on to make ourselves a better ball team,” he said.
Seth Wolken scored 14 points to pace the Pirates while Donovan Thompson added 12 and Andy Chelcher chipped in 10.
Richman also commented on the fan support both the women’s and men’s teams received during Wednesday night’s contests.
“The team and coaches really appreciate how the community came out and supported us against State Fair,” Richman said. “We really appreciated having the THS cheerleaders there. It added a nice touch to the night.”
The Pirates are 4-3 and will travel this weekend to the North Arkansas Classic. NCMC will take on Labette County, KS, Community College on Friday and North Arkansas on Saturday.