SALINA, Kan. -- Five minutes. That was the difference between staying in the winner’s bracket or falling into the consolation bracket for the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team Tuesday at the National Junior College Athletic Association Basketball Tournament.
Unfortunately for the WNCC women, they couldn’t stop an 18-5 run midway through the second half in falling 68-62 in the first round to Gulf Coast Community College.
It’s disappointing too the Cougar women’s faces after the players played a superb first half, baffling the No. 3 team in the nation with a patient offense, clutch 3-point shooting and a strong defense, Gulf Coast put just enough distance between them to fall in the consolation bracket of the tournament. WNCC’s opponent Wednesday will be Monroe Community College, who fell 75-64 to Jefferson College. Tip-off for the consolation game will be at 3 p.m.
“I thought we outplayed them for 35 minutes and it was the four to five minutes stretch that really hurt us. We made some defensive mistakes and that was the difference in the game,” WNCC coach Dave Harnish said. “We also got our-rebounded, and we needed some key rebounds during that stretch. “Other then that I was proud of the kids in terms of effort. It is just a matter we need to learn to rebound a little bit better down here and play for 40 minutes. Unfortunately, 35 minutes wasn’t good enough against a team like Gulf Coast.”
Gulf Coast with pre-season all-American Demauria Liles, was too much for the Cougars on the inside. Liles, a 6-foot sophomore and Jackie Sanders, a 6-2 sophomore, slashed and dashed their way to double-doubles. Liles finished with 13 points and 15 rebounds, while Sanders had 18 points and 14 rebounds.
Even with Liles and Sanders hard to stop on the inside, the Cougars battled tooth and nail with the Commodores. Harnish said the big difference in the game was rebounding, where his squad was out-rebounded 47-33. Other then that, WNCC hung with Gulf Coast, almost pulling off the upset and a miraculous comeback that fell short.
“I though our press slowed them up and they couldn’t get into a transition game,” Harnish said. “I really think on the defense side, we did a great job. The only difference was the offensive rebounds. I think they got 14 points off of offensive rebounds. We certainly can’t fault the effort. We really controlled the defense and they couldn’t get anything easy.”
For sure the Cougars were not one bit intimidated by the athleticism of Gulf Coast. In fact, WNCC almost pulled off a story similar to Hoosiers -- the underdog upending the favorite.
“I think this game gives us a lot of confidence even with the loss and playing a team the kids know they can play with,” Harnish said. “I thought we executed and competed well, it is just a matter of rebounding better down here, which wins games.”
From the get-go, the Cougars had Gulf Coast running scared. WNCC quickly took a 5-0 lead on a 3-pointer by Chelsea Lyles and then a short jumper by Alison Cheney. Gulf Coast came back to grab a 7-6 lead on back-to-back buckets by Sanders.
WNCC didn’t fold, erupting to an 11-9 lead on a driving bucket by Emma Beddome. Each time that WNCC grabbed a lead, the Commodores came back. Gulf Coast grabbed a 26-24 lead on a bucket by Sanders. The Cougars fought back as Lyles drained another 3-pointer before settling for a 27-25 halftime deficit.
The Cougars continued playing hard in the second half, tying the game on a Lyles drive to the bucket with 15:12 to play at 33-33. Jenna Colwell came right back and drained two free throws to put the Cougars up 35-33.
Gulf Coast fought back to tie the game at 37 with about 13 minutes to play. That is when the Cougars’ explosive defense fell on hard times for the next five minutes as the Commodores went on an 18-5 runn to lead 55-42 with eight minutes to play.
WNCC still had some fight left and slowly sliced the lead to single digits, and it all started with an inside bucket by Tawny Drexler and then a steal by Shaquilahh Davis to cut the lead to 58-48. Gulf Coast, though, pushed the lead back to 15 points on a trey by Janae Stokes and a bucket by Liles with just over four minutes to play in the game.
That was when the Cougars made it really interesting. First, Lyles drained one of two free throws followed by a 3-pointer by Dana Iverson. Then, Cheri Palmer drove the lane to slice the lead to single digits at 63-54.
WNCC continued hammering away at the lead as Carly Glisan nailed back-to-back 3-pointers to cut the lead to 66-60 with 1:25 to play. The Cougars made a huge defensive stop on the other end and then Beddome drained two free throws with 49.2 seconds to play to cut the deficit to 66-62, before Sanders iced the game with two free throws.
WNCC and Gulf Coast were practically equal throughout the game despite the height advantage for the Commodores. WNCC out-shot Gulf Coast 39 to 38 percent from the field as well as from the 3-point arc (42 to 35 percent). WNCC drained eight treys, led by Lyles and Glisan with three 3-pioners each, followed by two from Iverson.
“The first half we made some threes and got ahead. Then we went into a spell and during that four to five minute spell, we missed four or five shots that didn’t help matters,” Harnish said. “We ran the floor and got the shots we needed. We competed and I am pleased with the girls for doing that.”
WNCC had just one player with double figures as Lyles had 18 points. Glisan finished with nine, followed by Beddome, Davis and Iverson with eight points.
Gulf Coast had four players in double digits. Besides Sanders and Liles, Stokes finished with 17 points, including five 3-pointers and Alexis Givands with 12 points.
WNCC will face a Monroe Community College team that trailed 38-21 at halftime before losing 75-62. Monroe, who the Cougar softball team beat twice on Sunday in Arizona, was led by Brittany Hillard with 31 points. The Tribunes shot just 31 percent from the field.
Gulf Coast advances to play Jefferson College at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
WNCC (30-5) 25 37 -- 62
Gulf Coast (33-1) 27 41 -- 68
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Emma Beddome 8, Jenna Colwell 3, Tawny Drexler 3, Chelsea Lyles 18, Alison Cheney 2, Shaquilah Davis 8, Carly Glisan 9,, SeLina Ysac 1, Dana Iverson 8, Cheri Palmer 2,.
GULF COAST
Jackie Sanders 18, Dee Liles 13, Alexis Givands 12, Chimere Jordon 6, Janae Stokes 17, Kim Jones 2.
Monroe (20-8) 21 43 -- 64
Jefferson College (28-1) 38 37 -- 75
MONROE C.C.
Kristina Rosario 2, Charmonique Watt 6, Brittany Hilliard 31, Caila Desroches 11, Keona Jones 5, Kim Brown 1, Natalie Young 4, Regina Washington 4.
JEFFERSON COLLEGE
Dominique Ivory 2, Diana Voynova 4, Cherakie Barrett 9, LaToya Johnson 16, Denae Beavers 13, Danielle Adams 16, Deanne Tonkin 4, Traniene Greer 11.
No comments:
Post a Comment