The Cougars, who had a first-round bye, will face Northeastern Junior College at 7 p.m. Monday. NJC was a 73-67 winner over Miles Community College as the two teams combined for 76 free throw attempts.
The other semifinal will pit Sheridan College against Casper College at 5 p.m. Sheridan received a 49-point, 22-of-22 free throw performance from Tahnee Robinson in registering an 86-82 win over Otero Junior College. Casper College connected on eight 3-pointers and received a 19-point outburst from Emily Elliott to get by Northeast (Neb.) Community College 71-59. The winners of the two semifinal games will meet Tuesday for the Region IX championship at 7 p.m.
Western Nebraska 70, NW Wyoming 52
The Cougars utilized balanced scoring and played well defensively in registering their 24th win of the season. Fisher ignited the Cougars early, canning seven early points to give WNCC a 9-8 lead. Northwest, however, came storming to take a 10-9 lead on a Sheena Ryan bucket.
After that, the Cougars inside game took effect as Tawny Drexler and Janae Willis connected on back-to-back buckets. Moments later, Drexler had an offensive putback to put WNCC up 19-12 with 8 minutes left in the opening half.
One of the big keys for the Cougars was a defensive effort that held the Trappers scoreless for nearly five minutes. Northwest did slice the lead down to five, 25-20 on a Ryan bucket, but Fisher finished off the half with her 9th point of the half and a 27-20 lead.
The defensive effort was a big key in the Cougars halftime lead.
“I think our defensive definitely stepped it up, because we were so excited for the game,” she said. “It all came together defensively and offensively. I think we played really well. As a team, we definitely pulled it together and played awesome the whole time.”
WNCC stepped it up another notch in the second half as Drexler and Amber Kistler opened up the second 20 minutes with back-to-back buckets. Northwest sliced the lead to eight points, 38-30 on a Erin Cooke bucket, but a Cougar 8-0 run behind 3-pointers by Kistler and Fisher pushed the Cougars lead to 46-30 with 11 minutes to play.
The Trappers didn’t quit as Northwest went on a 9-0 run of their own, behind five points from Cooke and a 3-pointer by Ryan to slice the lead to 48-42 with 6:40 to play. Shaquilah Davis stopped the run with a 3-pointer, her first points of the game, and the Cougars went on a 13-8 run, capped off by a Fisher three, to put the game away.
One of the big keys for WNCC on the night was turnovers. The Cougars committed just five turnovers and both teams had 37 rebounds. Drexler led the team with 10 boards to go with her 12 points. Fisher led the Cougars with 17 points followed by Stormye Everett’s 11 points.
Northwest had three players in double figures, led by Cooke’s 26. Ryan chipped in 14, while Gita Grava had 10.
The Cougars advance to face Northeastern Colorado on Monday and Fisher said they will most definitely need to put another strong defensive effort out on the court.
“We definitely have to box out,” she said. “If we do end up playing them, we have to get out on their shooters and really pick it up on defense even more than we did tonight. Tonight, everybody was excited. It is regional tournament time so it is do or die, and we are out there playing like it is our last game.”
Northwest
WNCC
NORTHWEST COLLEGE
Sheena Ryan 14, Larissa Crump 2, Gita Grava 10, Erin Cooke 26.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Amber Kistler 7, Lorena Medeiros 2, Shaquilah Davis 7, Stormye Everett 11, Janae Willis 8, Tawny Drexler 12, Caley Fisher 17, Juju Bassetto 6.
Sheridan 86, Otero J.C. 82
Sheridan’s Tahnee Robinson ignited for a career best 49 points, including a 22-of-22 shooting performance from the free throw line to power the Generals into the semifinals with a thrilling 86-82 win over Otero Junior College.
Robinson finished the game with five 3-pointers and now has 81 points for the tournament in two games. Robinson also led the team in rebounding, pulling down 10 boards as the Generals out-rebounded the Rattlers 45-40.
Sheridan raced to a 44-33 halftime lead and led 53-41 after a Kori Bingham 3-pointer. Sheridan, however, couldn’t put the Rattlers away. The Generals led by 13 points, 68-55, but Otero’s Heather Andersen buried a 3-pointer to slice the lead to 68-64 with 7:23 to play.
Otero kept battling, cutting the lead to 77-74 with 2:42 to play on a Bailey Wilkins 3-pointer, but Sheridan’s Bingham came right down the court and connected on a trey to put the Generals back up 80-74.
Sheridan led 82-78 with just over a minute to play as Robinson connected on her 21st and 22nd free throws. Otero, however, climbed back into the game, cutting the lead to 84-82 with 12.3 seconds to play on a bucket by Kari Ameling. Bingham then salted the game away with two free throws with eight seconds left.
The Generals shot lights out from the charity stripe, nailing 33 of 38 free throws for 87 percent. The Generals connected on 11 3-pointers as a team. Robinson led the team with 49 points and 10 rebounds, followed by Bingham with 19 points and five 3-pointers, and Kendahl Avery with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Otero shot 38 percent from the field and were just 55.6 (10-18) from the free throw line. Ameling led the Rattlers with 20 points and 10 rebounds, while Rachelle Tilavea had 18 points and four 3-pointers. Andersen finished the game with 17 points and five 3-pointers before fouling out with three minutes to play, while Melinda Perry had 10 points.
Otero 33 49 – 82
Sheridan 42 44 – 86
OTERO JUNIOR COLLEGE
Heather Andersen 17, Rachelle Tilavea 18, Bailey Wilkins 8, Alex Dunn 9, Kari Ameling 20, Melinda Perry 10.
SHERIDAN
Pavlina Chudarkova 2, Tahnee Robinson 49, Kori Bingham 19, Mandy Mullock 4, Kendahl Avery 10, Cassie Carlson 2.
Casper 71, Northeast Nebraska 59
The Casper Thunderbirds fought back from a 33-30 halftime deficit to register a 71-59 win over Northeast (Neb.) Community College.
The big difference in the contest was free throw shooting as the Thunderbirds connected 0on 19 of 25, while the Hawks were just 7 of 13. The other difference was rebounding, where Casper out-rebounded Northeast 57-40, as Josie Stewart collected a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
Casper needed every bit of those rebounds in the second half. Casper held a 25-20 first half lead, only to watch Northeast go on a 13-5 run on 3-pointers by Mairead McNally, Stephanie Robinson and Sofie Lundberg to lead 33-30 at halftime.
In the second half, Casper regained the lead as Emily Elliott connected on one of her five 3-pointers of the game to give the Thunderbirds a 44-43 lead with 13:30 to play. The contest sew-sawed back and forth with each team making buckets. Finally, Elliott scored five straight points to put the Thunderbirds up 65-53 with 3:14 to play.
Casper had three players in double figures, led by Elliott’s 19 points. Stewart finished with 17 and Samira Van Grinsven had 14 points.
Northeast also had three players in double figures, led by McNally’s 13 points, followed by Jasmine Lovejoy and Lundberg with 11 points each.
Casper
NE Nebraska 33 26 – 59
CASPER
Emily Elliott 19, Samira Van Grinsven 14, Megan House 5, Megan Wilson 7, Kerstin Minchow 5, Josie Stewart 17, Ewa Urbanowska 4.
Northeastern Colorado 73, Miles C.C. 67
The Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen received a stiff test from Miles Community College, and in the end, NJC out-boarded the Pioneers and hit crucial free throws down the stretch to steal a 73-67 win to move into the semi-finals against Western Nebraska.
The Plainswomen trailed by nine points practically the entire the first half before Beata Bak nailed a bucket at the end of the first half to give Miles a commanding 42-33 lead. Miles stayed on top of the No. 8 team in the nation early in the second half, holding a 46-33 lead on a bucket by Kristen Brady.
NJC battled back going on a 17-4 run over a five minute span to tie the game at 50-50. Sabelle Diata then put the Plainswomen up 52-50 on a bucket, which was NJC’s first lead in the game since they led 5-4.
Miles fought back, taking a lead after a 3-pointer by Shannon Hildreath and a bucket by Bak with 5:38 to play. NJC retook the lead at 6-159 on a Diata 15-foot jumper with four minutes to play. The Plainswomen pushed the lead to 65-59 on a bucket by Jessica Priest.
Miles fought back, cutting the lead to 67-65 on back-to-back buckets by Bak with a minute to play. NJC came back out and hit clutch free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.
The Plainswomen shot just 29 percent from the field and canned just 2 of 15 3-pointers. Miles also shot poorly, making just 29 percent of their shots, including going 8 of 24 from the 3-point arc. Both teams also combined on 76 free throws as there were 53 fouls called in the contest. NJC was 27 of 39 from the free throw line, while Miles was 27 of 27.
The big difference in the game was rebounding as NJC out-rebounded Miles 55-49. Diata finished the game with 12 rebounds and four blocked shots. Diata also collected 17 points.
NJC also had three other players hit the double-figure scoring. Kristy Henderson finished with 15 points, while Priest and Amy Marin each had 13 points.
Bak led the Pioneers with a double-double, collecting 20 points and 16 rebounds. Bak also went 11 of 12 from the free throw line. Also collecting double-digit scoring for the Pioneers was Hildreth with 12 points and Dale Samuels with 11 points.
NE Colorado 33 40 – 73
Miles C.C.
NORTHEASTERN JUNIOR COLLEGE
Amy Marin 13, Tira Callaway 2, Kristy Henderson 15, Chelsea Arnell 3, Dawn Wattley 9, Sabelle Diata 17, Jessica Priest 15.
MILES COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Malissa Ingram 8, Shannon Hildreath 12, Sara Plaviljanin 4, Dale Samuels 11, Beata Bak 20, Kristen Brady 6, Dina Fritz 2, Stren Tramelli 3, Marni Magnason 1.
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