Pinto, who finished with 11 points and 13 rebounds, was just one of three Cougars to finish in double figures for the night. Stormye Everett led all players with 14 points, and Hemingford graduate Shelby Campbell finished with 10 points, including 6 of 10 shooting from the charity stripe.
Pinto said the team played much better than in Thursday’s win over Otero Junior College.
“We played very good,” the 6-foot-7 freshman said. “We played better defense and rebounded. Coach told us we had to play 40 minutes. We played good tonight, but we can play better.”
WNCC coach Dave Harnish was pleased that team played hard throughout the contest, something that was lacking in Thursday’s win.
“I thought we played for the majority of the game,” he said. “I thought we played more under control and made better decisions then the past few games. We didn’t turn the ball over as much so we made the right decisions tonight.”
The Cougars got the butterflies out of their system Thursday night and played a strong contest against Lamar. They will have to play even stronger Saturday in the final day of the of the tournament as they take on McCook Community College at 3 p.m. The contest will be a battle of the tournament’s unbeatens as McCook registered a huge 66-48 win over Otero in the early game.
“Hopefully we will continue to play like we have,” Harnish said. “I think we are learning how to compete and we have to do that tomorrow. McCook is playing very well and they had a big win against Otero today.”
WNCC didn’t start the contest strong as Lamar held an early 13-9 lead on back-to-back buckets by Kanisha Cooks. WNCC quickly erased Lamar’s lead as Yuki Morimoto nailed two 3-pointers to put the Cougars up 22-15.
Lamar stuck around, though, trailing 25-22 after Morgan Smith stole the ball for an easy lay-up. After that, the Cougars took control, outscoring the Runnin’ Lopes 15-1 over the last five minutes of the half to take a 40-23 lead into the locker room.
The second half was all WNCC as the Cougars outscored the Lopes 45-24. WNCC went on a 13-0 run to push the lead to 76-39, as Everett connected on one 3-pointer and Kelli Culver rattled home two 3-pointers to help the Cougars to the easy win.
WNCC had one of their best rebounding nights, out boarding the Lopes 58-31. Pinto led all rebounders with 13 points, while Everett had nine boards, and Khayla Gladney had five rebounds.
Culver , Gladney and Yuki Morimoto also had nice games. Culver finished with nine points on two 3-pointers, while Gladney and Morimoto each had eight points. Morimoto finished with two 3-pointers and six assists, while Gladney came off the bench to score on 3 of 5 shooting. The Cougars had 42 points from their bench players on the night.
In the early game, the McCook Indians shot 38 percent from the field and hit 21 of 29 free throws to take down Otero 66-50. The Indians were paced by Donell Betts’ 18 points and three 3-pointers, while Britney Bunker finished with 16 points.
Otero shot just 24 percent from the field, including a dismal 14 percent (3 of 21) from the 3-point area. The Rattlers were led by Rose Harvey-Akes and Tracy Fosterling each with nine points.
McCook 31 35 – 66
Otero 14 36 – 50
MCCOOK
Sierra Guy 4, Ellie Hiester 5, Britney Bunker 16, Emmalee Fladland 9, Jacqueline Lovato 2, Donell Betts 18, Skylar Johnson 7, Julia Hale 5.
OTERO
Rose Harvey-Akes 9, Angie Andemucio 3, Desiree Marrudo 2, Chelsea Rotondo 8, Ashley Jelly 3, Tracy Fosterling 9, Ashlynn Steffensen 3, Christian Anderson 1, Kari Ameling 4, Melinda Perry 8.
Lamar 23 24 – 47
WNCC 40 45 -- 85
LAMAR
Morgan Smith 7, Kanisha Cooks 4, Brittney Rayford 11, Ashley Torres 3, Krystina George 4, Brianna Hopkins 2, Nicole Midder 7, Jackie Eberhard 1, Emily Williams 8.
WNCC
Amber Kistler 2, Stormye Everett 14, Shelby Campbell 10, Yuki Morimoto 8, Ariane Brown 4, Tiffany Moorer 8, Carolina Alves 1, Madison Keller 2, Tayler Puttergill 2, Michelle Glaze 6, Thais Pinto 11, Kelli Culver 9, Khayla Gladney 8.
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