No. 6 Mesa Storms Back To Defeat No. 11 Wake Tech 65-50
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Wake Technical Community College (25-3) | 22 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 50 |
|
Mesa Community College (23-7) | 14 | 11 | 16 | 24 | 65 |
Wake Technical Community College
| Game Statistics | Wake Technical Community College | Mesa Community College |
|---|---|---|
| Field Goals | (17-66) | (20-62) |
| Field Goal % | 25.8% | 32.3% |
| Rebounds | 42 | 53 |
| Assists | 7 | 16 |
| Turnovers | 19 | 22 |
| Pts off Turnovers | 17 | 18 |
| 2nd Chance Pts | 0 | 14 |
| Pts in the Paint | 20 | 20 |
| Fastbreak Pts | 4 | 2 |
| Bench Pts | 4 | 24 |
Tuesday, March 15, 2022 - 9:20 am | Derek Diesner
Port Huron, Mich. - The 6-seed Mesa Thunderbirds opened play in the 2021-22 NJCAA DII National Basketball Tournament on Tuesday morning with a 65-50 comeback victory over the 11- seed Wake Tech Eagles inside of the SC4 Fieldhouse in Port Huron, Michigan.
With the victory, the Mesa Thunderbirds improve to 23-7 overall and advance to the quarterfinals on Wednesday evening where they will face the 3-seed, CCBC-Essex (33-0) at 6 pm Eastern time / 3 pm Arizona time. The game can be seen live on the NJCAA Network.
Tuesday's contest between the Thunderbirds and Eagles was the opening game of the 2022 NJCAA DII Women's Basketball Championship tournament. It was the first game for the T-Birds in ten days and it showed in the first ten minutes of play. Between the time-off from game action, the hype of playing in a national tournament, the early start (9 am local time), and getting used to playing in a different time zone (Eastern) for this first time all season; you could easily say Mesa had their backs to the wall.
The T-Birds didn't use any excuses. After being outscored 22-14 in the first quarter, Mesa would rally their way back into the game and never look back. In the first quarter, Mesa shot 27% (5-of-18) from the floor and made two of their four free-throw attempts. Wake Tech, on the other hand, shot a whopping 63% from the floor; including 50% from behind the three-point arc, and 75% from the free-throw line.
From there on out, the Mesa offense came to life and the defense shut down any open looks or transition buckets from the Eagles offense. Both teams scored 11 points each in the second quarter, with Wake Tech taking a 33-25 lead into halftime.
In the second half, Mesa stormed back the Eagles for good. The T-Birds outscored the Eagles 16-7 in the third quarter and 24-10 in the fourth quarter. In the second half, Mesa shutdown Wake Tech to just seven made field goals.
Mykah Anderson and Jayla Johnson both finished with 12 points apiece, while Christabel Longe added 11 points off the bench on 5-of-7 shooting. Love Troupe was held scoreless in the game, but did lead the team with 12 rebounds in the game.
On Wednesday night, the T-Birds and CCBC Essex Knights will square off for the first time in their program's history. The Knights are the hottest team in the tournament. CCBC Essex has won all but one of their games by double-digits. The Knights average over 102 points per game; with two of their stars (Lyric Swan and Patricia Anumgba) averaging over 20 points per game each. The Knights enter the game having won 33 straight games, while Mesa enters the contest having won their last ten games.
Don't forget to check out the MCC Team Shop, as well as our Booster Club.
