MCC Women fight off Cloud County for 71-62 win at home

The McCook Community College women shook off a scrappy Cloud County Community College basketball team in the second half Tuesday night to post a 71-62 win at the Peter and Dolores Graff Events Center.

MCC picked it up on both sides, shooting 50 percent in the second half and shutting down the T-Birds offensively to 32.4 percent in the final 20 minutes of the game

"I thought we played better defense in the second half. The first half was solid but they pressed us in the half court to make things tough," said MCC Coach Brandon Pritchett. "This team continues to get better shooting the ball, and that's good to see."

After shooting 40.9 percent in the first half and 33 percent on 3-point shots, MCC turned it around making 15 of 30 second-half shots and five of 13 3-pointers (38.5 percent) to finish the game at 46.2 percent.

Sophomore Valentina Monzo (Santiago, Chile) scored a season high 18 points, making three of four 3-pointers and grabbing seven rebounds.

 "Valentina really stepped it up as far as knocking down some shots and that's what we thought she'd be for us, and she came in and rebounded well too," Pritchett said of the 6-2 forward, who had just two rebounds in her first two games.

"Two rebounds in two games is just not acceptable for her and she knows that but I thought she came out and rebounded well, and played well," Pritchett said.

The T-Birds took their largest lead of the game (six points) 1:21 into the second quarter and led at the half 31-30.

Sophomore Alyssa Van Vleet (Decatur Community High School) came off the bench in the first quarter and hit her first three shots of the season and finished with 13 points on a five-for-nine shooting night, including two of six from the 3-point line, along with seven rebounds to lead a strong MCC bench showing Tuesday.

"Alyssa came out and shot the ball really well for us and the bench came together for us in this game," Pritchett said. "I really liked how we played with energy all the way through."

Sophomore Maite Lara Garcia (Sant Joan Despi, Spain) scored nine points and had six rebounds and freshman Patricia Ramirez (Concepción, Chili) came off the bench with nine points.

Cloud County shot 33.3 percent from the field and after making for of eight 3-pointers in the first half went 0-for-six in the second half.

"I thought this was the best we played against a physical team," said Pritchett.

The coach was disappointed with 30 turnovers which his attributes to a physical Cloud County team. MCC held a 38-31 rebound edge.

"We turned the ball over with physicality and we have to be strong with the ball and take care of it better," Pritchett said.

Overall MCC goes to 2-1 on the season and Pritchett was pleased to see a team-effort Tuesday while the team deals with and an injury to one of their starters and two bench players.

"I really like where we're at right now," Pritchett said. "Execution down the stretch, taking care of the ball, making sure we're in the right spots – those are the things that we're going to have to fix."

Cloud County falls to 1-2 on the year.

MCC will host the Cobblestone Hotel & Suites Classic Friday and Saturday in a women's tournament. North Platte will play Colby in the opening game Friday at 5:30 p.m. with MCC taking on Air Force Prep following that game at about 7:30 p.m. On Saturday North Platte will play Air Force Prep at 1 p.m. with MCC meeting Colby following that game at approximately 3 p.m.

North Platte is 2-0 on the season having beat Laramie County College and Eastern Wyoming on the opening weekend of the season at home. The Colby women are 1-2, opening with a win over Trinidad State then dropping weekend games on the road to Grayson College and Collin County Community College.

"It's a good group of teams coming in with North Platte co-hosting with us as our partner. Air Force Prep is a team that beat Northeastern Junior College opening night, they have some quick guards that can shoot and Colby beat a Region IX team in Trinidad, so these are quality teams that we have to prepare for so it should be a fun classic and hopefully have some people come out watch," Pritchett said.

This weekend will be the last chance to see MCC play at home until they return from the holiday break Jan. 8.

For more photos from tonight's game, please visit the MCC Facebook Page at: https://www.facebook.com/MPCCMcCook