COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams went 2-0 in the Air Force Prep tournament after each garnered wins on Friday.
The Cougar men, after spanking Colorado Northwestern 97-44 on Thursday, dropped Buckley 80-67. Five players reached double figures for the men behind Francisco Cruz’s 22 points.
The Cougar women also went 2-0 in the tournament. On Thursday, the women came back from a 32-31 halftime deficit to claim a 79-65 win over Northwest (Wyo.) College. WNCC followed that up with an 81-56 win over Ft. Carson Army Base.
In Friday’s win, the Cougar women had three players record double-figure scoring as Yuki Morimoto finished with 17 points followed by Thais Pinto with 13 points and nine rebounds, and Stormye Everett with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Assistant coach Jennifer Pedersen said the team came out ready to play Friday compared to their contest on Thursday.
“Tonight we came out to put on a big run to start the game and then we lost our composure there at the end of the first half with a lot of turnovers,” she said. “The defense, however, was a little bit better tonight.”
In Thursday’s contest against Northwest, WNCC fell behind 32-31 at halftime and then went into a 2-3 zone to capture the 14-point win. The Cougars built a 22 point lead at one time in the second half.
Friday’s contest saw the Cougars play a solid man-to-man defense that forced 24 Ft. Carson turnovers. WNCC had 11 steals in the contest. The Cougars raced to a 46-32 halftime lead and never looked back.
Pedersen said their defense is starting to come around.
“We are still sporadic on defense where we pick and choose at times what defense to run,” she said. “Thursday night against Powell,we had to go into a zone because defensively we couldn’t cover them man-to-man. {Friday] we didn’t run any zone. We stayed pretty much man-to-man all night. It really depends on the team we are playing right now and what we are comfortable with.”
The Cougars finished Friday’s contest with six 3-pointers as Hemingford’s Shelby Campbell went 2-for-2 and nine points. Bayard’s Amber Kistler finished with seven points and six assists, while Kelli Culver had nine points and one 3-pointer.
In Thursday’s win against the Trappers, Pinto, the 6-foot-7 post player, led lead all scorers with 19 points, 17 of which came in the first half. Everett also popped in 15 points along with seven rebounds and six steals, while Morimoto had 13 points, eight rebounds and eight steals.
Tynetta Turner pulled down six rebounds, while Kistler had six steals.
The Cougar men picked up their third straight win since a season-opening loss on Nov. 3. In Friday’s contest, two players finished with 20 or more points. Cruz needed 22 points, including 18 in the first half. He also netted two 3-pointers. Geddes Robinson finished with 20 points.
Also for the Cougars, Scott Bamforth finished with 12 points and two 3-pointers, O’Rion Hughes had 11 points, with most of the points down the stretch, and Brylie Kamen had 10 points.
WNCC men’s coach Russ Beck said they had a strong start and kept playing well. The Cougars held a comfortable 46-29 lead against a Buckley team that featured a number of former Division I players.
“We came out strong right at the start. They 2-3 zoned us almost the entire game,” he said. “They had some really good players on their team. They had Jacob Birchy who started 32 games on Air Force’s team in 2006-07 where he averaged 13 points a game on a team that went 26-9 and went to the NCAA tournament. They also had John Fry, a 6=9 player. We did a good job on those two. Anytime you are playing against guys that have been former Division I players it will be really physical and they understand how to play the game and they will really be able to shoot it.”
Beck said this team is starting to find its groove on the court.
“We are starting to understand what we do well,” he said. “When we do the things that we do, we are a pretty good team. When we try to ad lib too much and try to complicate things too much, then we allow teams to stay around.”
Both teams will wrap up the Air Force Prep tournament today. The women will face Pac Sun at noon, while the men will play an all-star team from the Air Force Base at 3 p.m.
Friday’s Game
WNCC women (3-0) 46 35 — 81
Ft. Carson 32 24 — 56
WNCC
Amber Kistler 7, Stormye Everett 11, Shelby Campbell 9, Yuki Morimoto 17, Ariane Brown 2, Tiffany Moorer 4, Tynetta Turner 2, Carolina Alves 7, Thias Pinto 13, Kelli Culver 9.
WNCC men (3-1) 46 34 — 80
Buckley 29 38 — 67
WNCC
Jasen Williams 3, Saul Torres 2, O’Rion Hughes 11, Scott Bamforth 12, Francisco Cruz 22, Brylie Kamen 10, Geddes Robinson 20.
Thursday’s Game
WNCC women 31 48 — 79
NW Wyoming 32 33 — 65
WNCC
Amber Kistler 4, Stormye Everett 15, Shelby Campbell 6, Yuki Morimoto 13, Ariane Brown 4, Tiffany Moorer 5, Tynetta Turner 3, Carolina Alves 6, Thais Pinto 19, Khayla Gladney 4.
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