Saturday saw a split between North Central Missouri College and North Arkansas Community College in basketball action at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton. North Arkansas won the women’s game by a score of 68-57, but North Central took the men’s contest, winning 110-88.
North Central Women
The North Central women struggled early in their match-up with North Arkansas, falling behind 19-13 in the opening frame. The visitors were able to add three points to the advantage in the second quarter, taking a 32-23 edge into the break at halftime.
The North Central women battled back with a 26-16 run in the third quarter, taking a one-point lead into the final frame. The Pirates couldn’t keep the lead, however. North Arkansas closed the game with a dominating 20-8 run to put North Central away and seal the road victory.
“In the first half they dominated us inside,” North Central Head Coach Jenni Croy said. “We tried switching defenses and then their outside game hurt us. We knew coming in we had to play four solid quarters. We came out in the third quarter with some fire and really played well on both ends of the floor. Unfortunately in the fourth quarter we just couldn’t get back in it.”
The Pirates were led by Kendey Eaton, who scored a team-high 26 points in the loss.
With the loss, the North Central women fell to 20-7 overall on the season. The loss was just the second for the Pirates since the calendar flipped to 2017.
North Central Men
Scoring was no problem for the North Central men, who scored well into triple digits in a 22-point win over North Arkansas. NCMC went for 58 in the first half, taking a 58-43 lead by halftime and the Pirates continued to score at a furious pace in the second. By the game’s end the Pirates had lit up the scoreboard for 110 points.
“It was a great way to send off our sophomores, especially with them having so much family in town for the game,” Pirates’ Head Coach Jeremy Esry said. “We shot the ball really well which always helps. We knew North Ark was very well coached and they would come in playing hard and smart and I thought our guys did a great job of responding.”
Major Finley led the Pirates with 26 points and Joshua Goss added 21. Jalen Gant finished with 14 points, MJ Johnson had 11 points and nine rebounds and Demetrius Houston and Dee Scruggs each scored 11 points as well.
With the win, the Pirates improved to 16-8 on the season.
The North Central men will face the Culver-Stockton junior varsity at home again tonight in a makeup game from November. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
Both North Central squads will be at home on Thursday in Region 16 make-up games with St. Louis Community College. Action begins with the women’s game at 5 p.m. and the men will follow at 7 o’clock.