North Central Rolls

Pirates Pummel JV Teams On Monday
You never know what you are going to get with a four-year school’s junior varsity basketball team. Sometimes JV teams can give you as much of a challenge as a Region 16 rival. Other times, a local high school squad could give you a better game.
The JV squads Graceland University brought to Trenton on Monday night certainly fit into the latter.
The North Central Missouri College basketball teams swept a doubleheader at the Ketcham Community Center, defeating the Graceland JV by a couple of embarassing scores, taking the women’s game 95-39 and the men’s game 106-50.
The North Central women were in commmand after taking a 28-11 lead in the first quarter, but the 25-5 run the Pirates went on in the second quarter really pushed the game over the edge. Even with the foot off the accelerator in the second half the advantage continued to swell. By the game’s end, North Central had more than doubled up Graceland, winning by 56 points.
Despite the lop-sided nature of the score, Graceland’s women’s JV team had found some success earlier this month. The Yellowjackets were tied with Kansas City Kansas Community College – ranked fourth in the nation – at halftime on Feb. 2 in a game the Blue Devils would eventaully win 86-66.
“Sometimes it’s hard to come off a big win like we had on Saturday against Mineral Area and come and play with good intensity the following game,” North Central coach Jenni Croy said. “We talked about being aggressive early against Graceland and we didn’t want to take them lightly as they played KCKCC a good game. I felt like we executed our press well in the first quarter which allowed us to play aggressively and jump out to an early lead. We were able to get good, quality minutes from our entire team.”
Maci Moore had 22 points, eight rebounds, four assists and three steals to lead the Pirates. Kennadie Crowe had 22 points as well and added seven rebounds and three assists in the win.
The Pirates also got 19 points, eight rebounds, four assists and four steals from Kortlyn Rounkles and 10 points from Angel Wiggins.
North Central’s men won by 56 points as well and most of that lead was built in the opening half where North Central grabbed a 59-14 halftime advantage. Much like the women’s game, the second half was a little more competitive as the Pirates coasted to the finish and a triple-digit score.
“Games like that are tough because you don’t want to build any bad habits,” Pirates’ coach Jeremy Esry said. “I think it was good for us in a way as it gave us an opportunity to see a lot of guys play in a structured game environment and see what they could do against other competition. Our guys did a good job of capitalizing on that opportunity. Now the challenge is to keep our momentum and positive mindset rolling while we play tougher teams.”
Leading the onslaught was Atavian Butler who had 14 points. Camron Donatlan had 13 points and three assists, Kolten Griffin had 12 points and four steals and Riak Mabour reached double figures as well with 10 points. Jackson Andrews and Kenny Stone each had nine points and Truman Kaderly added eight. Damien Loyd finished with seven points, passing out 10 assists on the night.
UP NEXT
The Pirates are at home on Saturday, playing host to Central College of Columbus (NE). Action tips off at the Ketcham Community Center at 2 p.m. with the women’s game and the men’s contest will follow.
The NCMC men’s trip to Sedalia to face State Fair Community College on Wednesday was postponed to March 8. The NCMC women’s game at home against Fort Scott Community College on Thursday was cancelled and will not be made up.