North Central’s Region Streaks Snapped In STL

The North Central Missouri College basketball teams saw their undefeated Region 16 runs come to an end on Saturday on the road in St. Louis. St. Louis Community College defeated the Lady Pirates 99-69 while the North Central men fell 85-82.
Lady Pirates
The women’s game was a runaway with St. Louis getting hot from the field and never cooling down. By game’s end the Lady Pirates were looking up at a 30-point deficit.
“We just couldn’t stop them,” Lady Pirates’ Head Coach Jenni Croy said. “They shot lights out and we shot poorly.”
The Lady Pirates were paced by Imani White, who had 24 points in the loss.
NCMC had an eight-game winning streak snapped with the loss. The Lady Pirates are now 14-11 overall and 4-1 in region play.
Pirates
The North Central men put themselves in a hole early, but made a comeback in the second half. A big three-pointer swung the momentum back to St. Louis, however, and the home team held off the Pirates’ rally, winning by three points. It was the second loss in a row for the Pirates, who haven’t lost back-to-back games all season.
“We are on a losing streak now and we haven’t had one of those all season,” Pirates’ head Coach Steve Richman said. “I think it is important for us to get back on track. Having both games on the road last week hurt us I think. Saturday we had a couple shots at the end but we just didn’t finish strong enough to win the game.”
North Central was paced by Terrance Bush, who scored 23 points in the loss. Tyrell Thirkield added 18 points and Andrew Berry finished with eight points and 16 rebounds.
The Pirates, now 17-5 overall and 3-1 in Region 16 action, will have an opportunity to bounce back tonight as they play host to the William Penn junior varsity at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton. The men’s-only match-up gets under way at 7:30 p.m.
Both North Central teams will be back in Region 16 play on Wednesday, traveling to Lexington to take on Wentworth Military Academy. The women’s game begins at 5:30 p.m. and the men will follow.