Pioneers 57... Casper 65

The MCC Pioneer gave the Casper College T-Birds all they could handle on Friday morning, but 3rd quarter scoring issues proved to be the demise is the one-loss T-Birds escaped with a 65-57 win in Gillette, WY. 

The Pioneers took a 26-25 lead to the intermission after a half that saw 8 lead changes. Casper then scored the first 10 points of the 3rd quarter in a 2:30 span to build a 9-point lead and then withstand every rally that the Pioneers could come up with. Casper grew their lead to as many as 13 late in the 3rd quarter with a 23-10 advantage in the 3rd but the Pioneers kept chipping away and cut the lead multiple times to 6 points but could not get any closer. 

The 9-1 T-Birds got 14 points and 6 rebounds from Logan Alvar and 12 points from Joslin Igo off the bench as they were the only Casper players in double figures. 

The 4-8 Pioneers got 14 points (5-15 FG, 2-9 3's, 2-2 FT) from India Blyth (Melbourne, Australia) and 8 points, 8 rebounds each from the combination of Ella Paleaae-Cook (Brisbane, Australia) and Jessica Tomkins (Melbourne, Australia). Julia Paoletta (Buenos Aires, Argentina) and Becky Melcher (Forsyth, MT) also had 8 points each for the Pioneers. 

Inside the Box Score

• MCC shot 23-59 (39%) from the field and 7-24 (29%) from the 3-point line. The Pioneers hit all 4 of the free throws they attempted. 
• Casper shot 23-63 (37%) from the field and 4-15 (27%) from the 3-point line. They had a huge advantage at the free throw line going 15-20. 
• MCC had 18 turnovers to 11 for Casper. 
• Casper outrebounded MCC 41-37. Casper had 12 offensive rebounds to 7 for the Pioneers. 

The Pioneers will play Western Nebraska Saturday morning at 10:00 AM in the final game of the Border Wars for the Pioneers.