Lady Indians to open tournament Thursday against Gillette

SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. – Pairings for the Division 1 Region IX women's basketball tournament have been announced. McCook Community College will play Gillette Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in Scottsbluff.

This will be the first of four first-round games on tap for the eight-team, three-day tournament. All games pit schools from the south division against schools from the north division. Other games include: Casper vs. Northeastern Junior College and 3:30 p.m., Western Wyoming vs. Trinidad State at 6 p.m. and the host school Western Nebraska vs. Eastern Wyoming at 8 p.m. Semi-finals are set for Friday at 6 and 8 p.m. with the finals Saturday at 6 p.m.

MCC (8-2 in the south, 19-11 overall) finished second in the south division behind Western Nebraska (10-0, 24-5). Both teams received byes for the play-in games Friday. With a first-place finish, Western Nebraska won hosting rights which alternates each year between the south and north. In last weekend's play-in round, third seeded Trinidad State (4-6, 9-18) played sixth-seeded Otero College (1-9, 4-25) with Trinidad winning 130-122 in double overtime. No. 5 Northeastern Junior College (3-7, 8-23) traveled to No. 4 Lamar (4-6, 12-16) and upset the Runnin' Lopes 71-55.

In the north, Casper (11-1, 24-6) and Western Wyoming (9-3, 22-8) received first-round byes. No. 3 Gillette (8-4, 22-9) hosted No. 6 Laramie County Community College (4-8, 13-16) Saturday with the Pronghorns winning 64-49. In the other north play-in game No. 4 Northwest Wyoming (4-8, 17-14) hosted No. 5 Eastern Wyoming (4-8, 15-16) Saturday in Powell where Eastern Wyoming won a 63-56 in double-overtime.

LADY INDIANS VS. NORTH TEAMS: MCC went 3-6 against teams in the north division this season. The Lady Indians won both games with Laramie County and split two games with Eastern Wyoming in the annual early-season, home-and-home games with those two teams. MCC added two mid-season tournaments this season scheduling the teams from the north division. MCC lost a pair of games prior to the holiday break against Central Wyoming (60-58) and Western Wyoming (70-38). Out of the holiday break, the Lady Indians faced what turned out to be the top three teams in the north in the Region IX Crossover Classic in Casper, Wyo. In back-to-back-to-back games, MCC was blown out by 21 points against Western Wyoming, 13 points by Casper and 32 points by Gillette.

"That Gillette game was the third game in three days out of break with a long road-trip to Casper and I just don't think our mentality was there," said MCC Coach Pritchett. "Our mindset is completely different now."

MCC had been a little short-handed going into the East-West Crossover Class with sophomore Marta Moya Perez (Alboraya, Spain) sitting those games out with an injury and freshman Peyton Cox (Wauneta-Palisade) just returning to action after missing nine straight games with a concussion.

In all three of those post-break games in Casper, MCC got off to slow starts scoring 22 points or less in the first half in all three games – including just seven first-quarter points against Western Wyoming (22 in the first half); two-first quarter points against Casper (19 in the first half); then 15 points in the first quarter against Gillette but eight in the second period and 22 in the first half.

THE TURNAROUND: The turning point may have come in that blowout loss to Gillette. After trailing 39-23 at halftime and shooting just 31.8 percent from the field, the Lady Indians began to find their shooting touch and hit on 51.6 percent from the field in the second half and scored 23 points in the third quarter.

After the loss to Gillette on Jan. 11, the Lady Indians had a record of 9-8 and faced the task of going on the road to start the Region IX schedule in La Junta, Colo., and Trinidad. MCC won 56-51 over Otero and 71-61 at Trinidad.

"Otero and Trinidad are tough environments to play in and facing adversity like that on the road and getting two wins was big for us," said Pritchett.

The Lady Indians went 10-3 the rest of the season, winning five of the six final games in January, including an 87-68 win at Sterling, Colo. over Northeastern Junior College.

"We don't win very often a NJC so playing at Sterling and pulling off a win there really prepared us for the post-season grind," said Pritchett.

After losing at North Platte Feb. 4 in a non-Region IX game, the Lady Indians won five of the final six games of the year with MCC's only other losses during that span came to Western Nebraska.

In MCC's game against No. 21 Western Nebraska as Scottsbluff, the Lady Indians had a 12-point halftime lead but lost a highly-contested game at Scottsbluff, 61-56.

"Being in those types of environments after that Casper trip has really changed us," said Pritchett.

The Lady Indians finished the season with a 9-5 record on the road including a 5-2 road record after the Casper trip.

MCC BY THE NUMBERS: The Lady Indians scored 66.4 points per game in conference and is second among the teams in the south in defensive scoring, allowing 58.8 points per game. MCC shoots 39.1 percent from the field, 31.4 from the 3-point line and 65.4 percent from the line. The team was second in the south with 38.0 rebounds per game

Sophomore Madara Liepniece (Riga, Latvia) leads MCC in scoring, averaging 12.4 points per game. She is second with 5.1 rebounds and leads the team with 3.1 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Natalie Harmata (redshirt sophomore, Sydney, Australia) is second with 9.0 points and 3.8 boards. Freshman Peyton Cox (Wauneta) averages 7.6 points and leads the team with 5.9 rebounds per game.

Other offensive leaders include freshman Johanna Gerlach (Hachborn, Germany) 7.1 points and 1.8 rebounds; sophomore Irene Fernandez Pavesio (Miami-Dade, Asturias, Spain), 6.9 points, 4.9 rebounds; freshman Laia Izquierdo Altimira (Barcelona, Spain) 6.6 points and 4.8 boards; Carolina Garcia Perdomo (freshman, Islas Canarias, Spain), 5.4 points and 2.4 assists; and sophomore Marta Moya Perez (Alboraya, Spain), 3.9 points and 3.1 rebounds.

GILLETTE COLLEGE BY THE NUMBERS: The Pronghorns are averaging 72.2 points per game and giving up 60.8 points per game. The Pronghorns shoot 40.9 from the field, 29.2 from the 3-point line and 63.8 from the free-throw line with 40.6 rebounds per game.

Gillette is led by freshman forward Rochelle Afo-Manuma averaging 16.2 points per game, 4.0 offensive rebounds and 6.0 total rebounds per game.

Sophomore guard/forward Dasani Nesbit averages 12.2 points per game and 4.5 rebounds. Freshman guard Arna Bright average 8.8 points per game.

THE REMATCH: This is the first time in Pritchett's tenure that MCC earned a bye for the play-in games. That means the team will play Thursday after an 11-day layoff, and for the first week of the layoff they didn't have a specific team to prepare for.

"It was a different week with trying to keep the girls active and ready to go. It was a little more relaxed, we were able to work on some things yet get some people healthy and rested while getting some shots up and waiting to know who we play," said Pritchett.

Gillette downed Laramie County 64-49 Saturday, leading at halftime 29-23 and after three quarters 38-35 then outscored the Golden Eagles 26-14 in the final 10 minutes of the game. Nesbit had a double-double with 13 points and 10 rebounds.

MCC practiced Sunday for the first time focusing on Gillette.

"I think we're both different teams at the end of the season than the ones that played in earlier January," said Prichett. "We're better offensively than we were then and defensively we've been picking things up too."

He said the key for the Lady Indians will be controlling the offensive glass – not let them get offensive rebounds and keeping the turnovers to a minimum.

"I think keeping them off the offensively glass will be important," said Pritchett. "Their two forwards average almost seven offensive rebounds per game and their guards are scrappy and have some good shooters."

Gillette picked up 14 offensive rebounds in the January game and enjoyed a 35-30 edge on the glass.

"We just have to play our style of defense and not let them get to the paint, not give up offensive rebounds and force them into contested shots," said Pritchett. "When we've done that against teams, especially our last three games with NJC, Trinidad and Otero, we've been successful."

MCC turned the ball over 20 times in that first Gillette game and averages 19.9 per game.

"Our biggest Achillies heel has been the turnovers," said Pritchett. "When we can limit those, we can score in the 70s or low 80s, but we have to make the right play, take care of the ball and not get too frantic."

THE BRACKET: Pritchett said this past weekend's play-in games are an indication of what he believes will be a competitive tournament starting Thursday.

"You take a look at these two No. 3 vs. No. 6 matchups this past weekend and the fact that both No. 5 seeds went on the road and won, it should be entertaining," said Pritchett.

The coach is intrigued with the first-round game involving Western Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming.

"Eastern Wyoming's playing well and Western's not a deep team and come tournament time with potentially three games in three days that could factor in," said Pritchett. "Obviously WNCC is a talented team with four players making the all-Region IX south team, but depth could be an issue."

He said another intriguing matchup is second-seeded Western Wyoming playing Trinidad. Western Wyoming won their last four games to take the second spot and Trinidad is coming of a 130-point performance in an emotional double-overtime Friday.

"Trinidad can obviously shoot the ball and score so than can give any team they play a tough matchup," said Pritchett. "They played us tough that last weekend here but we were able to take that 3-point shot away from them."

Prichett said NJC has been playing well too, "They held Western Nebraska to 62 points on the last game of the season and have been playing well on the road."

"On paper all these games look like they could be good games," said Pritchett.

All tournament games will be live-streamed and other information including results, bracket, and other information will be posted on the Region IX Women's Basketball Tournament website at the following link:

https://westernnebraska.prestosports.com/information/2025_Region_IX_Women-s_Basketball_Tourney