The North Central Missouri College basketball teams were on the losing end Tuesday night as Southwestern Community College came to Trenton and handed both the Lady Pirates and Pirates losses at the Ketcham Community Center. The North Central women fell 77-74, while the NCMC men were defeated 103-81.
Lady Pirates
The North Central women ran out to a good start, then Southwestern started running. The Lady Pirates worked their way out to a 20-11 lead in the first quarter, but as Southwestern started running the floor the lead quickly dissipated. By halftime the Lady Pirates led by just one point. NCMC kept the game close all through the second half and made a run at the end. unfortunately it fell just short as the Lady Pirates were defeated by three points.
“I thought we came out with a lot of energy in the first quarter, which is what we didn’t have when they beat us by 18 last week,” Lady Pirates’ Head Coach Jenni Croy said. “We were plagued with foul trouble in the first half, but our bench really stepped up and played good minutes for us. We have to get better at rebounding – we gave up 24 points on offensive boards. We can’t do that and expect to beat a good team. I am proud of our effort last night, however, it was an improvement from our last meeting with (Southwestern).”
Jami Nickerson led the Lady Pirates with 17 points and Camille Buttorff added 16. NCMC also got 10 points each from McKinley Hurley and Madison Winters. Siera Glassford finished with nine points for the Lady Pirates.
The Lady Pirates dropped to 2-8 overall on the season with the loss.
Pirates
The North Central men fell behind early, briefly rallied for the lead, but it was all Southwestern from that point on. The visitors rebounded from losing the first-half lead with a run that put NCMC in a 44-33 hole at the break. In the second half, Southwestern picked up the pace, outscoring the Pirates 59-48 to take the game by 22 points.
“I was disappointed in our effort,” Pirates’ Head Coach Steve Richman said. “We came out and didn’t shoot very well and some nights that is going to happen. When it does, though, you have to compensate by doing other things well and we didn’t do that. The whole night didn’t go very well.”
North Central was paced by Brandon Stapleton, who had 16 points and three assists in the loss. Terrance Bush had 13 points and four rebounds, Caleb Berry added 11 points and D’Tavian Walker finished with 10 points and nine rebounds.
With the loss, the Pirates fell to 4-5 overall on the season.
Both NCMC teams return to the court, looking to bounce back, on Saturday as both squads play host to John Wood Community College. The action begins with the women’s game at 5:30 p.m., a change in time from the original 2 p.m. start time. The men’s contest will follow at 7:30