The North Central Missouri College basketball squads returned home to the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton to host Penn Valley in a pair of Wednesday night games. Neither North Central squad could come away with a win as the Lady Pirates fell in close one, 59-57, while the men lost 91-77.
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Lady Pirates
Penn Valley jumped out to a 6-0 run in the women’s game, but the Lady Pirates were quick to respond. The North Central women roared back with a 9-0 run of their own to take a 9-6 edge over the Lady Scouts. Starr Taylor was a big factor in the Lady Pirates’ run, scoring five of the nine points.
NCMC continued to have the momentum as the Lady Pirates built onto their lead, going up 20-12. Penn Valley would not go away, however, battling back and cutting the lead to 20-18 with six minutes to play in the half.
The Lady Pirates continued to show the way, leading by one to three points until Penn Valley regained the lead with a three to take a 29-28 advantage with just 1:20 left in the half. By halftime, Penn Valley had extended the lead to 31-28.
In the second half, Penn Valley slowly began to pull away. With 10:51 left in the game, NCMC’s deficit hit double-digits as Penn Valley led 48-38. A pair of three’s by Toni Brundage allowed the Lady Pirates to climb back into the game.
NCMC closed the gap to two a couple times, but could never regain the lead.
Cassie Hunt led the way for the Lady Pirates, scoring a team-high 23 points. Hunt also pulled down 13 rebounds, giving herself a double-double. Taylor tallied a double-double as well with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Taylor also added five steals to her box score. Mandy Monkman gave the Lady Pirates a boost with seven points.
The loss dropped the Lady Pirates to 7-10 on the season.
Pirates
The NCMC men had a tough test on their hands, facing Penn Valley, who came in ranked sixth in the nation among Division II junior colleges. The Pirates made a few runs but could not pull off the upset.
Penn Valley was strong in the early going, jumping out to a 16-8 lead. But back-to-back three-pointers by NCMC’s Byron Bundy put the Pirates back in the game, cutting the lead to 16-14.
From that point on, however, it was all Penn Valley as the Scouts went on a 40-23 run to close the half and take a 56-37 lead at the break.
In the second half, Penn Valley ran the lead up to 23 points before the Pirates began reeling them in. Behind strong play from Devin Eighmey and Martin Roper, the Pirates battled back.
NCMC cut the lead to 11 with four minutes to go in the game. That was as close as Penn Valley would let the Pirates get, however, as they held on for the victory.
“Offense-wise we had plenty of points to win the ballgame; that wasn’t the problem,” Head Coach Steve Richman said. “We still need some work on the defensive end, though. I thought we looked poor in the first half, but I can live with performances like we had in the second. I was proud of our efforts; we just need to be able to sustain that all game.”
The Pirates were led by Eighmey, who had a team-high 21 points. He also chalked up four assists and four steals. Roper scored a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Bundy and Brandon Thomas also hit double figures, scoring 16 and 11 points respectively. Thomas also dished out seven assists in the contest.
The NCMC men fell to 6-11 on the season with the loss.
Both squads return to action on Saturday when they travel to St. Louis for a pair of match-ups with Region 16 rival Meramec.