by By Dylan DeVlieger
No. 10 MCC Women’s Basketball overcame their worst second quarter of the season on Saturday to come out victorious against Scottsdale, 52-51.
MCC had lost three straight to the Artichokes before on Saturday and came out in the opening quarter looking to prove a point as they outscored SCC 16-6 in the opening 10 minutes. Mesa held Scottsdale to 2-11 shooting from the field and kept them scoreless from behind the three-point line.
The second quarter would not be in favor of the T-Birds as they shot just 1-17 from the field scoring a season low two points in the quarter as the Artichokes outscored Mesa, 14-2. With all things considered, MCC only trailed 20-18 going into the halftime locker room.
To start the second half Mesa would start Ashiian Hunter, an adjustment made due to Kamiyah Hurd picking up three fouls in the opening half.
Hunter would make the most of her opportunity as she would play the whole quarter, nail two shots from distance, and tally 10 points in the period. MCC swung the momentum in their favor in the third quarter, outshooting SCC 20-13, while shooting 53.3% from the floor and holding Scottsdale to just 28.6%. Mesa would take a 38-33 lead into what would become a wild fourth quarter.
The Artichokes would start the quarter on a 14-7 run to take a 47-45 advantage over the T-Birds with just 5:30 left to play. SCC would then increase their lead to five, (51-46) with just under four minutes left to play.
Mesa would then lock down defensively while Kamiyah Hurd and Mackenzie Shivers would put their stamp on the game and victory.
Hurd would go on to score Mesa’s last five points of the game including the game winning layup set up by Shivers.
Shivers would come up with a big time steal with just about 30 seconds left as she took it away from Kristin Scabby. As Shivers fought to keep possession of the ball from the floor, she somehow found Hurd streaking to the basket to deliver a perfect pass while still seated, setting up Hurd for a layup that gave MCC a 52-51 advantage with 26 seconds left.
Mesa would have to produce one more defensive stand as Scottsdale had possession with an opportunity to steal the victory with the final short.
After working the ball around SCC would have an open look for three and the win but the shot would not be on target, a rebound by Miquedah Taliman wouldn’t put the game away as there were still five seconds left.
Taliman would pass it off to Shivers who caught it under her own basket and would scramble up the sideline away from two defenders. Once Shivers found herself nearly trapped by four Artichokes she changed direction working back towards her own baseline, somehow avoiding being fouled the clock ran out as Mesa would survive a scare from Scottsdale.
