First Time Foes No Match For NCMC

Pirates Roll Past Visiting Central College
On Saturday the North Central Missouri College women’s and men’s basketball teams played host to an unfamiliar opponent at the Ketcham Community Center. Central College out of Columbus, NE represented a first-time opponent for the Pirates, but the results turned out just fine as NCMC swept the day, taking the women’s contest 79-55 and the men’s game 85-60.
WOMEN
The win for the North Central women was the seventh in a row, pushing the No. 13 Pirates to 8-2 overall on the season.
North Central consistently outscored Central on Saturday, leading 23-16 after the first quarter and 41-28 at halftime. The Pirates’ defense was in top form and held Central to just eight points in the third quarter as the lead continued to grow.
Maci Moore would finish the game with 12 points and seven rebounds to pace the Pirates. Kortlyn Rounkles had 12 points as well and added four assists and three steals. Kennadie Crowe was the only other Pirate in double figures, scoring 10 points, but it hardly mattered as the Pirates had 10 players score in the win. Lily Osborn and Nora Ford each had nine points and Angel Wiggins and Jasmine Taylor each put up eight in the Pirates’ attack.
“I thought we won with a very balanced attack,” North Central coach Jenni Croy said. “This team continues to play together and they are extremely unselfish. I think that has contributed to our success. They have confidence in themselves as well as each other.”
MEN
One half in, the No. 17 North Central men led 40-31 and the game appeared to still be in play. That changed quickly in the second half as North Central grabbed control with a dominating run. Central quickly slipped into the distance as the Pirates pulled away for the 25-point victory.
“I’m very happy with how our guys responded to a good DII JUCO team,” Pirates’ coach Jeremy Esry said. “We have to take care of business against teams in our division, especially games at home and I thought we did just that. Guys were brought in and played well. Hopefully we can maintain that mindset with two super tough games this week.”
Atavian Butler led the charge for North Central going for 23 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists.
“Atavian had an all-around great game for us,” Esry said. “He scored it, rebounded it and made plays the entire game. I thought we also did a great job of distributing the ball and not allowing the ball to stick.”
Behind Butler, Jackson Andrews had 15 points, all resulting on three-pointers. Andrews was 5-for-10 from behind the arc in the win. Kolten Griffin had 11 points and seven rebounds, Jeramy Shaw had 11 points and five assists and Camron Donatlan finished with 10 points off the bench.
With the win, North Central pushed to 6-4 overall.
UP NEXT
Both NCMC teams travel to Kansas City tonight (Tuesday) to take on Metropolitan Community College in the Region 16 openers for both schools. Action tips off with the women’s game at 5:30 and the men will follow at 7:30.