Final tune-ups were made Monday as the Northland Community and Technical College men’s and women’s basketball teams prepared for the start of 2017 Minnesota College Athletic Conference play with a one-sided home sweep against the Concordia College junior varsity.
The Pioneers opened the doubleheader with a 92-49 win in the women’s match-up and followed that with a 72-43 victory in the men’s nightcap.
Northland women are 11-2 and the Northland men are 10-2. They start their MCAC campaign with Northern Division twinbills Friday night at Fond du Lac and Saturday afternoon at Itasca.
Five Northland scorers hit double figures in the women’s game as Megan Swedberg netted 19 points, Jessica Vedbraaten 18, ShaRon Miller 15, Myesha Caldwell 11 and Emily Hestekind 10. Vedbraaten and Miller completed double-doubles with 12 and 10 rebounds, respectively.
Northland, up 50-25 at halftime, was 38-for-75 from the field (51 percent) and 11-for-17 at the free throw line. Concordia went 17-for-60 from the floor (28 percent) and 10-for-12 on free throws. The Pioneers finished with a 51-32 rebound advantage over the Cobbers, who topped the turnover charts 24-16.
Emmanuel McCullough scored 19 points and Deshon Brown had 17 to lead the Northland men, who had a 40-21 intermission cushion.
Northland shot 51 percent from the field (28/55) and made 11 of 17 free throw attempts. Concordia shot 31 percent from the floor (16/51) and had a 4-for-7 free throw night. The Pioneers won the rebound battle 36-30; the Cobbers had more turnovers, 18-15.
 
NCTC/Concordia Women
1 2 3 4 T
Concordia 12 13 7 17 49
Northland 24 26 19 23 92
Concordia – Payton Ramberg 7, Miriah Forness 11, Mikayla Payne 5, Shelby Duckstad 12, Aleya Parker 8, Brianna Carney 6.
Northland – Emily Hestekind 10, Myesha Caldwell 11, Megan Swedberg 19, Kelsey Kainz 9, Emily Anderson 4, Jessica Vedbraaten 18, Madison Stenzel 6, ShaRon Miller 15.
 
NCTC/Concordia Men
1 2 T
Concordia 21 22 43
Northland 40 32 72
Concordia – Cole Wilhelmi 2, Hunter Larson 2, Lane Voltz 13, Peter Vukovich-Simonson 2, Jacob Pazdernik 9, Brent Hovden 3, Jordan Davis 1, Wyatt Brands 3, John Reiten 2, Brady Gullicks 4, Matt Bye 2.
Northland – Deshon Brown 17, Ju’wan Evans 9, Cole Piatko 7, Damian Francis 1, Brandon Murat 2, Emmanuel McCullough 19, Chedonio Martin 5, Jarquine Butler 3, Jake Joppru 9.