Mesa Community College women’s basketball season ends in the semi-finals against Scottsdale Community College
The Mesa Community College women’s basketball team’s season ended at the hands of Scottsdale Community College Wednesday night, 59-65, in the semifinal round of the NJCAA Region I Division II playoffs.
In front of a ruckus crowd with MCC and SCC fans alike, the Fighting Artichokes and Lady T-Birds took the court with a chance to compete in the Region I Division II finals on the line.
In the first quarter, the Artichokes came out on fire from deep as they hit three in the opening quarter. Neither team was able to gain a commanding lead, as both clubs traded blows in the first 10 minutes and the first quarter ended with a 17-14 SCC advantage.
In the second quarter, MCC was able to settle in and swing momentum in their favor as they outscored SCC 18-10.
MCC allowed their players to make plays as Mykah Anderson went 4-9 from the field in the first half and led all scorers with nine points. MCC’s sharpshooter Annemarie Batista did her part in the first half, as she hit two from downtown and grabbed six rebounds.
MCC would go into the halftime locker room with a 32-27 lead.
The game of basketball is all about runs and shifting the momentum, and that is exactly what Scottsdale did in the third quarter as they outscored MCC 21-10.
SCC forced MCC to commit seven fouls in the quarter, which resulted in nine free throw attempts of which they made five.
On the other hand, MCC only shot two free throws in the quarter and missed both.
In the third quarter, the Fighting Artichokes shot 42% from the field compared to the Lady T-Birds 29%, and neither team hit a three.
While grabbing momentum, the Fighting Artichokes also grabbed the lead from MCC as they led after three quarters 48-42.
The fourth quarter would be the last for one of these two elite teams, all SCC had to do was survive any MCC push that came their way and they would be able to end the Lady T-Birds season in an upset.
MCC came out swinging and tried to land blows to turn the momentum in their favor, but for every shot MCC hit, the Fighting Artichokes were able to match.
Both teams would tally 17 points in the final period and MCC would see their season end in a 65-59 loss to the No. 3 seeded Scottsdale Fighting Artichokes.
MCC was led in scoring by Mykah Anderson, who had a game high 22 points and dished out seven assists while grabbing six rebounds. Annemarie Batista had 11 points and 14 boards for her team in the loss.
SCC was led in scoring by Danay Williams who had 15 points and nine rebounds. Cassidee Meyer had 14 points and 12 rebounds, six of which were offensive.
Both teams shot comparably from the field throughout the 40 minutes as MCC shot 38.1% from the field, while SCC hit at a 38.5% clip.
There was not a stark free throw disparity, unlike in the previous two meetings between these two teams, as MCC went 6-12 for the charity stripe and SCC was 8-16.
With the loss, the Lady T-Birds season ended in the semi-final round for the first time since the 2008-09 season. The team finished with a 20-10 overall record and a 15-7 conference record.
Scottsdale will move on to play the No. 1 seeded Pima Aztecs in the Region I Division II final on Saturday.
