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Back-to-back 3-pointers in the fourth quarter sparked an offensive run that led to an impressive 80-62 win for the Montcalm Community College Centurions women’s basketball team over Delta College, Wednesday, Jan. 28.
In their third consecutive home game, where they won two out of three, the Centurions (3-3 MCCAA North, 6-13 overall) established and held onto the lead since 6:25 was left in the second quarter, when freshman Kendall Stout (Stanton, Mich.) rebounded a shot and put it back in to retain the lead for MCC, 24-22.
In the fourth quarter, just when the Pioneers (3-3 MCCAA North, 10-10 overall) were swinging momentum their way, MCC freshman guard Baylor Syrjala (Lakeview, Mich.) nailed a 3-pointer to retake the lead. After rebounding a Delta miss, Stout made it back-to-back threes for the Centurions, opening up a 58-52 lead.
Suddenly, momentum swung back to MCC’s favor, and the Centurions exploded for a 30-point scoring fourth quarter to clinch another MCCAA North conference win.
“We were shooting pretty well in warmups. But they didn’t really give us a chance to shoot until that fourth quarter,” Stout said. “It was really nice to kind of finally show it. I mean, that’s what we do, we shoot. I think we were also very determined.”
For the first time this season, the Centurions had two players record a double-double, as Stout scored a game-high (and personal best) 23 points and collected 11 rebounds while sophomore Emma Rewa (Greenville, Mich.) had 10 points and 10 rebounds. Syrjala almost became the third Centurions player with a double-double, finishing with 19 points and nine rebounds.
“Kendall has been doing great all year,” Centurions’ head coach Scott Pedigo said. “Emma was a force last year and she’s getting into it again where she’s becoming a really strong rebounder for us. She’s always putting in a good box-out down low and has been able to get to the ball, too.”
Another freshman, Emma Rehkopf (Belding, Mich.), came off the bench and pitched in 11 points and five rebounds.
The Pioneers established a 16-10 lead when Brooke Swartz hit a three-pointer with 2:48 to go in the first quarter. MCC then outscored Delta 16-8 to take a 26-22 lead 5:44 before halftime when freshman Karlie Bacon (Stanton, Mich.) received a pass inside the paint to score. MCC went into halftime up 36-31.
With MCC up 39-33, Delta’s defense began to press. However, the Centurions managed to cut through it, finding an open Rewa for an easy basket a couple of times.
MCC led only 50-48 going into the fourth quarter after Delta had a 17-14 scoring advantage in the third quarter. Rewa said the back-to-back threes from Syrjala and Stout early in the fourth quarter really boosted the team’s confidence, which led to the scoring surge.
“A lot of our ball movement was working well,” Rewa said. “We were also communicating really well on defense. We were really picking each other up in the fourth quarter. We were letting the last play go because it didn’t matter anymore and we went onto the next play.”
The win pulls MCC into a tie for third place with Delta and Muskegon, with Bay College and Mid Michigan leading the North with a 6-0 and 5-0 record, respectively.
Because the home game against Muskegon Community College was postponed last week and moved to this past Monday, the Centurions were either practicing or playing in a game for nine consecutive days, thus being able to go 2-1 in that stretch was impressive, Pedigo said.
“That was a big concern with so many games close together. We made sure not to burn them out,” Pedigo said. “We’ll back off this week and let them rest a little before we get ready for Saturday. We started pressing against Delta, but we backed out of it so we could reserve some energy.”
Pedigo liked what he saw from his team against the Pioneers, despite the long week of basketball every night. He said the Centurions team is beginning to put together what they’ve learned from earlier in the season.
“With our offense, we’re getting to show our true emotion where we are just reading and reacting, we’re not just doing set plays,” he said. “Before, the way people played us, they’d just trap us and we weren’t able to get into a true set. We’re starting to understand that now. It took us through October and November to learn that. That’s stuff isn’t easy to learn and these kids really spend a lot of time working on that and learning how to react to things.”
MCC went 9-for-27 from the 3-point line (33.3%) compared to Delta’s 8-for-44 (18.2%) shooting. The Centurions also did well at the free throw line, hitting 17-of-22 (77.3%), whereas the Pioneers shot 12-for-22 (54.5%).
Delta outrebounded MCC, 52-49, and both teams had an even 22 turnovers a piece. However, the Centurions outscored the Pioneers in second-chance points (17-15) and points off turnovers (16-12).
UP NEXT: The Centurions will travel to Petoskey, Saturday, Jan. 31, for a MCCAA North matchup with North Central Michigan (1-5 MCCAA North, 3-15 overall). NCM is 2-5 at home so far this season and is coming off a 73-60 win in Alpena, Jan. 28. Game time is 1 p.m.
RECAP: Muskegon 63, Montcalm 56
The Centurions dropped a home game to Muskegon Community College, 63-56, during a makeup game Monday, Jan. 26.
The loss snapped the Centurions’ two-game winning streak.
The Jayhawks (3-3 MCCAA North, 7-9 overall) were led by Anna Lundquist who scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds. For MCC, Rehkopf came off the bench and led the team in scoring with 18 points, followed by Syrjala with 15 and Stout with 14.
Despite only scoring a combined 12 points in the second and third quarter and down 44-31 going into the fourth quarter, the Centurions attempted a comeback, outscoring the Jayhawks 25-19, but ultimately fell short.
Muskegon outrebounded Montcalm, 42-34, and had a 12-8 advantage in second-chance scoring, however, the Centurions won the turnover battle, 12-18, and outscored the Jayhawks 22-11 with points on turnovers.