The Lady Pirates had to recover from a six point first half road deficit to defeat a game MCC-Penn Valley team on Saturday 96-90 in a double overtime thriller.  The win improves the Lady Pirates to 19-6 overall and 5-1 in Region 16 play.

"Penn Valley came out more aggressive than us in the first half. We responded well in the second half by attacking the basket, looking to score. We were able to get them in foul trouble while rotating our players to make sure we were able to keep 5 girls on the floor until the end," remarked Coach Croy of the challenges her team faced and how they were able to overcome them.  By the conclusion of the 2-overtime contest, Penn Valley was down to 3 players on the court due to foul outs.  "Anytime you can win at Penn Valley, it's a great day!"

A big difference between this game and the first meeting between the teams, when NCMC won handily by 32 points at home, was Penn Valley's ability to get their leading scorer going.  In this contest, Mia Cushon netted 29 points in contrast to being held to just 2 points in the first meeting.

For the Pirates, Kendey Eaton paced the team with 22 points and 10 rebounds.  McKinley Hurley also had a nice afternoon with 20 points while shooting 4 of 4 from beyond the arc.  Off the bench, Kelly Warford stepped up with 17 points and 10 rebounds as well.  Jami Nickerson (12 points) and Sarah Lamp (11 points) were also in double digits.

The Lady Pirates are back in action Wednesday in a home region contest against Cottey College.  Tipoff is set for 5:30pm at the Ketcham Community Center.