The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirates opened play in the NJCAA Division II National Tournament this morning in Overland Park, KS. The Lady Pirates, seeded 14th, nearly pulled off a big upset, giving St. Clair County Community College all they could handle in an 80-72 loss.
NCMC showed the way through much of the first half, trailing only twice by just a single point each time. NCMC led by as many as six points, but held just a 34-32 advantage at the break.
In the second half, St. Clair jumped out with a 6-0 run to take the lead, however, NCMC was not about to go quietly, responding with a 13-4 run of their own to go up 49-44. The Lady Pirates would hold onto a five point advantage until just over nine minutes left in the game when St. Clair rallied to tie the game at 57-57. Poor rebounding proved to be a problem for the Lady Pirates as St. Clair took advantage of several second-chance opportunities, pulling out to a 67-60 lead as time began to run out in the game. St. Clair led by 12 points with four and a half minutes left, but the Lady Pirates made one final run. The Lady Pirates outscored St. Clair down the stretch, but it wasn’t enough as North Central was relegated to the consolation bracket.
NCMC was paced by Sydnee Rounkles, who scored 16 points in the loss. Nancy Berwanger added 13 points and Lexi Hope and Kayla Oetterer each finished with 12 points. Samone Redditt hit double figures as well with 11 points, Brooke Parton finished with seven and Jackie Graham added three.
The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak for the Lady Pirates and dropped them to 17-13 overall. The win was St. Clair’s 25th in a row and moved the tournament’s third-seeded team to 29-2 overall.
The Lady Pirates will take the floor again tomorrow, playing sixth-seeded Louisburg, which lost 76-73 to Monroe, at 3 p.m. in Overland Park, KS.
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