The North Central Missouri College mens and womens basketball teams took different paths for their season opening games Tuesday night at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton.
The Lady Pirates went the route of playing a tough NJCAA Division I team, looking to better a young team for games down the road with a trial by fire. The North Central women got burnt, losing 99-45 to Crowder Community College, but how the challenge improves the Lady Pirates remains to be seen.
The North Central men took the approach of playing a junior varsity team to build confidence early for what is also a very young team. The Pirates rolled the William Penn JV Tuesday night, 85-59.
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Lady Pirates
The Lady Pirates knew they were in for a challenge with Division I Crowder, but couldn’t have expected what they got. Crowder took advantage of a young Lady Pirates squad early with some tough pressure defense and ran out to a 51-19 first half lead. The Lady Pirates continued to struggle in the second half as the visitors cruised to the win.
“We opened with a Division I program, which we knew would be an extremely tough opponent,” Lady Pirates’ Head Coach Jenni Croy said. “However, our goal throughout the regular season is to prepare for the post season. I feel like this will prepare us better for the post season. It was a wake up call for our women. We are without our only starter from last year, so this was putting players on the floor without a ton of experience. We’ll learn from it.”
The Lady Pirates didn’t have a player in double figures, but got a positive out of the night with a very balanced scoring attack. Kelsey Griffin led the way with nine points and Brittany Williams and Kayla Hewitt each scored seven points. Carissa Conger and Alexis Goodwin each scored six points.
With the loss, the Lady Pirates established an 0-1 start to the 2011-12 season. They will return to the floor tonight, traveling to Fayette to face the Central Methodist University junior varsity. Tip off is set for 6 p.m.
Pirates
The North Central men debuted their fast-paced style of play Tuesday night and succeeded with their game-plan of wearing their opponents out. The Pirates held a 34-27 lead at halftime, but the William Penn JV couldn’t keep pace with the Pirates much longer after that. NCMC pulled away down the stretch, winning by 26 points.
“I thought it looked like a typical first game,” Pirates’ Head Coach Steve Richman said. “William Penn actually played a lot better than what you would see out of most JV teams. They were a good first test for us. The kids were sloppy at times, but that is the style we are going to play this year. We are going to press and look to muddy things up a little. We did that last night and our depth began to show. We wore them down physically and were able to pull away in the second half.”
Leading the way for the Pirates was Tim Nelson, who had a game-high 20 points. Jacob Hardie and Eric McDaniel followed with 12 points each and KaRon Hayes scored 11.
The win established a 1-0 start for the Pirates, who are now off until Wednesday, Nov. 9 when the North Central men and women travel to Iowa Falls, IA to face Ellsworth Community College. Action tips off with the womens game at 5:30 p.m. and the men will follow at 7:30 p.m.