COLORADO SPRINGS, Wyo. — The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team continued its stellar start to the season Thursday, combining a stingy defense with an efficient offense to roll past Northern Oklahoma 75-57 in the first day of the Air Force Prep Tournament.
The victory boosted the No. 8 Cougars’ season record to 5-0. All of WNCC’s wins have been by more than 10 points.
“We came out defensively pretty strong tonight and went on a big run to get a big lead going into halftime,” WNCC assistant coach Jennifer Pedersen said. “I thought we played better as a group than we did last week. We ran our offense a little bit better tonight, and I thought we did some good things on defense early in the game.”
WNCC spurted ahead by 30 points at one point in the second half; however, Northern Oklahoma heated up from the 3-point line to close the gap a bit. Twenty-four of Northern Oklahoma’s points came on 3-pointers.
“In the second half we went on about an eight-minute scoring drought, and they picked up their play,” Pedersen said. “They hit some key threes and were able to come back in a hurry. They went on an 18-5 run, so we kind of let down on our defense a little bit. That’s something we’re going to have to step up.”
Yuki Morimoto, a freshman from Tokyo, Japan, sparked the Cougars with 11 points, five rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. Thais Pinto had 13 points and two blocks, and Kelli Culver contributed 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Stormye Everett had five rebounds, and Shelby Campbell collected three steals.
As a team, WNCC registered seven blocks and 33 rebounds.
Pedersen said she expects WNCC to get tested a lot more today against Midland College (Texas), which is ranked No. 4 in the nation.
“They’re good,” Pedersen said. “They’ve had a pretty long week of traveling so, hopefully, they’re worn out a little bit. But they’re always a solid team. They have some big kids, and they have some sophomore leadership that we’re going to have to contend with.”
The victory boosted the No. 8 Cougars’ season record to 5-0. All of WNCC’s wins have been by more than 10 points.
“We came out defensively pretty strong tonight and went on a big run to get a big lead going into halftime,” WNCC assistant coach Jennifer Pedersen said. “I thought we played better as a group than we did last week. We ran our offense a little bit better tonight, and I thought we did some good things on defense early in the game.”
WNCC spurted ahead by 30 points at one point in the second half; however, Northern Oklahoma heated up from the 3-point line to close the gap a bit. Twenty-four of Northern Oklahoma’s points came on 3-pointers.
“In the second half we went on about an eight-minute scoring drought, and they picked up their play,” Pedersen said. “They hit some key threes and were able to come back in a hurry. They went on an 18-5 run, so we kind of let down on our defense a little bit. That’s something we’re going to have to step up.”
Yuki Morimoto, a freshman from Tokyo, Japan, sparked the Cougars with 11 points, five rebounds, three steals, and two blocks. Thais Pinto had 13 points and two blocks, and Kelli Culver contributed 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Stormye Everett had five rebounds, and Shelby Campbell collected three steals.
As a team, WNCC registered seven blocks and 33 rebounds.
Pedersen said she expects WNCC to get tested a lot more today against Midland College (Texas), which is ranked No. 4 in the nation.
“They’re good,” Pedersen said. “They’ve had a pretty long week of traveling so, hopefully, they’re worn out a little bit. But they’re always a solid team. They have some big kids, and they have some sophomore leadership that we’re going to have to contend with.”
N. Okla. 22 35—57
WNCC
Amber Kistler 9, Stormye Everett 4, Shelby Campbell 5, Yuki Morimoto 11, Ariane Brown 2, Tynetta Turner 2, Carolina Alves 2, Michelle Glaze 8, Thais Pinto 13, Kelli Culver 15, Khayla Gladney 4.
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