Basketball season for North Central Missouri College came to a close over the weekend as the Pirates and Lady Pirates were eliminated in the NJCAA Division II Region 16 basketball tournaments. The Lady Pirates picked up a semifinal win over Cottey College Friday night in Kansas City, winning 67-56, but fell to Meramec in the title game the following day by a score of 73-65.
The North Central men, meanwhile, saw their season slip away with an 80-69 loss to Penn Valley Friday night in Trenton.
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Lady Pirates
The North Central women were able to make their way back to the Region 16 title game, but couldn’t pull out the victory. NCMC topped Cottey College in the semifinals Friday night, winning by 11 points.
Jordan Ewigman led the way for the Lady Pirates, scoring 16 points. Maggie Arnall added 13 points and Shelby Simon and Courtney Ray each scored 10 points. The Lady Pirates also got eight points from Taylor Frandson.
On Saturday, the Lady Pirates’ season ended with a eight-point loss in the region title game to Meramec.
Ashley Zeih led North Central with 22 points and Ewigman added 11 points. Brittany Williams finished with 10 points.
The Lady Pirates wrapped up their 2010-2011 campaign with a 22-9 record. Zeih and Ewigman were named to the All-Region 16 first team and Frandson, Arnall and Ray were second-team selections.
Pirates
The North Central men were at home in the Ketcham Community Center, hosting the Region 16 Men’s Tournament in Trenton on Friday. The Pirates came out and took an early lead and led by as many as 12 points in the first half. When the two teams went to the lockerrooms at the break, NCMC led 42-34.
Penn Valley turned the tables on the Pirates in the second half, applying more pressure and speeding up the pace of the game. The Pirates were thrown out of their element and Penn Valley roared back to take the game by 11 points and end North Central’s season in the process.
“I thought we executed our game plan in the first half very well,” Pirates’ Head Coach Steve Richman said. “We did a great job of controlling their shooters defensively and executing on offense. In the second half they quit running an offense and pressured us quite a bit. We didn’t handle it very well.”
Penn Valley attacked the hoop in the second half and got to the free throw line 22 times in the second half while the Pirates made just 13 trips.
JaWan Davis led the Pirates with 29 points and Brandon Jones finished with 16. Canaan Fairley added eight points for the Pirates, who finished their season with a 13-15 record.
Davis and Jones were each named to the All-Region 16 first team. It was the second first team selection for each.