SEVEN STRAIGHT

Lady Pirates Push Streak To Seven Wins In A Row, Men Display Improved Effort

It was Nov. 4 in Overland Park, KS. The North Central Missouri College women’s basketball team was putting up points, but Johnson County had all the answers at the other end. When the buzzer sounded at the conclusion of the fourth quarter, the Lady Pirates were on the wrong end of a 10-point game.
That was the last time North Central lost.
Since that defeat, the Lady Pirates have been on a tear, winning seven straight games, the most recent a 76-42 victory over Southwestern Community College on Wednesday night at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton.
Key to the run has been a freshman class – mostly made up of players from small schools -which has improved with every game. Wednesday night was no different as the freshmen made their presence felt alongside sophomore Kendey Eaton, who led the Pirates with 17 points.
Brookfield’s Ashtin Williams followed with 16 points and Trenton’s Whitley Richman went for 15 points and nine rebounds. Another freshman, Hailey Burrows of Gilman City, finished with 12 points.
“I think with each game those girls continue to grow as a college player,” North Central Head Coach Jenni Croy said. “They get more comfortable out there on the floor. Usually that happens each year and we hope that when we come back for the second semester they don’t play like freshmen anymore and I feel like that is happening with these kids. Anytime we can get them on the floor for a lot of minutes and get them success on the floor I think it helps their confidence.”
North Central also got 10 points from Samm Jett and nine points and 11 rebounds from Sarah Lamp. Nicole Kost added four points and four steals and Madison Gonseth rounded out the North Central total with three points and nine rebounds.
Southwestern was able to hang around just enough to be annoying early on, but North Central closed the first quarter on a solid run, going up 23-11. That run broke things open for the Lady Pirates, who pushed the lead to 42-23 by halftime and 65-30 after three quarters. It was cruise control for there on out as North Central coasted to a 34-point win.
NCMC MEN
Southwestern, the number-one ranked NJCAA Division II school in the nation, came out swinging on Wednesday night in Trenton. The North Central Missouri College men led 6-5, but a 16-0 run by the Spartans quickly put the Pirates in a pretty big hole.
To the Pirates’ credit, they didn’t roll over. NCMC battled back, cutting the lead to as few as eight points in the first half. North Central continued to keep Southwestern within arm’s reach, but the Spartan run early in the contest would be too much to overcome. In the end, the Pirates were handed a 91-80 loss, a marked improvement over the 103-78 defeat they were handed by Southwestern exactly one week ago in Creston, IA.
“It was another tough one for us against a ranked opponent,” Pirates’ Head Coach Jeremy Esry said. “I thought we showed some glimpses of what we could be as a team this year, but we still have a lot of inconsistencies. Turnovers in the first half really hurt us and led to us getting down big. I’m proud of how our guys fought back and responded in the second half, though.”
North Central was paced by 21 points and 10 rebounds from Jalen Gant. Jordan Reece followed with 15 points and Jake Salisbury and Cody Glenn added 14 and 13 points respectively.
UP NEXT
NCMC Women: The North Central women are off until Wednesday, Dec. 6, when the Lady Pirates travel to face Kansas City, KS.
NCMC Men: The North Central men will have some opportunities to get some frustrations out as the week closes. The Pirates play host to the Graceland University junior varsity on Friday, tipping off at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton at 7:30 p.m. NCMC will then travel to Parkville on Saturday to take on the Park University junior varsity.