WNCC coach Dave Harnish said that his team definitely pick up the tempo in the second half, thanks to five 3-pointers and 42 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.
“In the first half, we weren’t knocking shots down, shooting 27 percent from the field. We got good shots, we just weren’t getting them to fall,” he said. “In the second half we made some shots and made some threes. The difference in the first and second half is we made some shots. We are struggling with confidence and hopefully this win will help with our confidence level.”
The Cougar women definitely didn’t come out of the gate with a whole of offense. What the team did have, however, was a defense that flustered the All-stars. In fact, the Cougars jumped out to a 9-0 lead before the All-stars scored on a Regan Pettijohn free throw.
WNCC’s defense continued to excel as the All-star’s didn’t score their first field goal with 8:42 to play on a Maggie Kucera bucket to cut the lead to 13-3. The Cougars continued playing tough defense, running out to a 27-14 halftime lead.
The second half was a different story for the Cougar women as the offense heated up. SeLina Ysac started things with eight points, including two 3-pointers to push the lead to 39-18. Stormye Everett followed with a trey to push the lead to 42-18.
WNCC wasn’t through shooting the long ball with Amber Kistler nailing back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Cougars a 54-23 lead with eight minutes to play. Kistler finished the night with three 3-pointers and 13 points, seven of which came in the first half.
The Cougars had three players in double figures. Shaquilah Davis led the way with 16 points, five steals and four assists, while Ysac had 12 points, seven rebounds and seven stills. Kistler also had three steals to her 13 points.
Pettijohn and Kucera each had nine points to lead the All-stars, while Tera Schmid had eight points.
WNCC (7-3) will next be in action next weekend when they compete in the South Sub-region tournament in La Junta, Colo., where they will face McCook, Otero and Lamar.
In the other game of the TEAM Chevrolet Classic, the Eastern Wyoming College Lancers trailed by 12 at halftime and then outscored the Williston State College Lady Tetons 42-39, but the comeback wasn’t enough falling 81-72.
“I was happy with the way our kids fought back, battled and were competitive against a real good Williston State team. They have a couple of kids that are really good,” EWC coach Tom Andersen said. “Early in the first half we got down by 12 or 14 and played better toward the end of the first half. I thought the second half we battled well. We got to within four or five with a couple minutes to go, but we just couldn’t get the stop or the basket to get it down to a one or two possession game.”
Williston dominated the contest in the first half as the Lady Tetons shot 42 percent from the field compared to 32 percent for the Lancers. The second half was a different story as the Lancers headed up on 43 percent shooting.
The Lancers, who trailed 42-30 at halftime, sliced the lead to 66-62 with 5:41 to play on a 3-point play by Jaqi Bell. Both squads traded 3-pointers before the Lady Tetons moved to a 9-point lead, 74-65, with 2:56 to play.
EWC fought back as Candace Mitchell bucketed two field goals and Bell rang the rim with two free throws with 1:12 to play to slice the lead to 76-71. Williston sealed the game with five free throws to get the win.
Bell paced the Lancers with 18 points and eight rebounds, while Noelle Jones pitched in 16 points and Mitchell had 14 points. The Lancers finished the contest hitting 16 of 18 free throws, led by a 6 of 6 performance from Bell, as well as Danielle Brown going 4 of 4.
Williston State had three players in double figures, paced by Christine Miller’s 23 points. Kristin Bearstail had 17 points and Amber Adams finished with 15 points.
Andersen said they played much better in the second half and they will get tested next weekend when they competed in the Wyoming Conference Tournament. The Lancers will face Western Wyoming Community College on Thursday, Casper College on Friday and Sheridan College on Saturday.
“We spread the ball around a little bit and we started to get to the basket inside a little bit in the second half to get ourselves some better opportunities,” Andersen said. “We have to continue to do that to get to the free throw line. I am hoping we are getting better and we have to keep battling. We have some pretty tough ones out there, so it is a chance for us to keep getting better.”
Eastern Wyoming 30 42 – 72
Williston State 42 39 – 81
EASTERN WYOMING
Kera Bretney 2, Alex Leake 3, Koel Hall 6, Candace Mitchell 14, Noelle Jones 16, Jessica Brown 4, Danielle Brown 9, Jaqi Bell 18.
WILLISTON STATE
Andi Wheeler 4, Abby Nasset 7, Whitney Sundheim 7, Kristin Bearstail 17, Amber Adams 15, Christine Miller 23, Brittany Azure 6, Jamie Njos 2.
Three-pointers: EWC 4 (Hall 2, D. Brown, Leake); Williston 3 (Bearstail 2, Adams).
Nebraska All-stars 14 16 -- 30
Western Nebraska 27 42 -- 49
NEBRASKA All-Stars
Lesley Olson 1, Tera Schmid 8, Shawna Quevedo 2, April Olson 1, Maggie Kucera 9, Regan Pettijohn 9.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Tanisha Gilmore 7, Amber Kistler 13, Lorena Medairos 2, SeLina Ysac 12, Shaquilah Davis 16, Stormye Everett 6, Tawny Drexler 5, Rachael Ragland 2, Caley Fisher 2.
Three-pointers: WNCC 6 (Kistler 3, Ysac 2, Everett), All-stars: 2 (Schmid 2).
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