Women’s Basketball: Raiders Advance to Title Game

The Central Community College women's basketball team advanced to Saturday's Region 9 championship game with a 73-71 home win over Southeast Community College in first round tournament action.

The visiting Storm won the first quarter, 26-16, before watching the Raiders rattle off a 12-2 run to open the second quarter to cut the Southeast lead to 28-27 at the 6:41 mark. The Storm moved ahead, 35-27, with just under four minutes to go before halftime. The Raiders responded with an 8-0 run and the score was deadlocked at halftime, 35-35.

The Raiders outscored the Storm, 14-6, over the first four-and-a-half minutes of the third quarter to take a 49-41 lead. However, Southeast picked up offensively and went on a 10-2 run to close out the third period and the game was tied at 51 apiece. In the fourth period, the score was tied at 53, 60 and 62 before the Raiders built a five-point lead, 71-66, with 31 seconds remaining. Not to be outdone, SCC's Hunter Hartshorn scored an old-fashioned three-point play to cut CCC's lead to 71-69, but time ran out and the Raiders won the game, 73-71.

"The girls just played hard," said CCC head coach Billy Perkins. "We got down early, but we knew our game plan was too good not to come through. I'm just proud of our girls and the resilience of everybody just playing good team ball."

Five Raiders scored in double figures with Amy Mitchell leading the charge with 21 points. Macey Thege totaled a dozen points while Nyamiri Blair and Brittney Veik scored 11 apiece. Madisen Jelinek finished with 10 points.

The win gives CCC an 11-11 mark heading into Saturday's Region 9 championship game at North Platte Community College. The 21-9 Knights swept the Raiders in both regular season meetings. On Jan. 7, the Knights defeated the Raiders in North Platte, 76-58. NPCC completed the sweep on Feb. 5 with a 76-56 victory at the Raider Fieldhouse. Saturday's clash begins at 2 p.m.