Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Jacquelyn Cline Finishes First Year at North Central

Jacquelyn Cline completed her first year at North Central Missouri College. She appeared in 13 games, averaged 2.2 points per game, grabbed 19 rebounds, and had 7 assists. She is the second Mustang player in the Sami Jackson era to play college ball. Kristin Herndon played four years for Knox College (IL), leading their to their best season ever and their first national tournament berth ever. 

Cline looked different wearing red for the Pirates, but she got to wear her old number, #22, that she wore at North Nodaway. 

There were some other local players who played on the team. Mary Copeland (Polo) averaged 9.8 points per game and was a force on the boards at 5’11”. Jessica Reeter (Chillicothe) was a starting guard for the Pirates and their leading scorer. She averaged 11.9 points per game, shot 34.1% from the three point line, and had 110 assists compared to 93 turnovers. Tori Meinecke picked up where she left off at Mercer for Dan Owens; she was a force on the boards at 6’1”, scored 8.6 points per game, grabbed 6.6 boards, and blocked 24 shots. 

And Bailey Fleming, from Leeton, hit it off with Northeast Nodaway guard Jill Boswell at a church camp and came to one of her softball games and several of her basketball games to cheer on the Bluejays. She averaged 5.7 points per game.

Corrected after the print edition went to press: North Central has normally been a solid team over the years, but they had their highest ranking ever at one point this year and are 24-6 this year. As of Tuesday evening, they were waiting to see whether they will make the national tournament.


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