Tuesday, November 09, 2010

WNCC women win home opener over LIttle Big Horn

It was a tale of two halves for the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team in their season opener Friday at Cougar Palace.

The Cougar women shot 46 percent from the field, including 17 points from Thais Pinto for a 42-17 lead. The lead helped WNCC register a 77-56 win over Little Big Horn College.

WNCC coach Dave Harnish said while he was pleased with the first-half effort, the second 20 minutes was less then pleasing to watch.

“It was definitely two different halves and two different teams,” Harnish said. “I was really excited the first half. I thought the energy level and defense was excellent. Our defense caused a lot of turnovers and I thought our offense was good, not great. I really liked the energy and intensity the first half.

“For Some reason, in the second half, it was like two different teams. We didn’t have the energy. We had eight turnovers at halftime and 17 turnovers in the second half. We shot very poorly and defended very poorly. It was very disappointed based on what we did the first half. We really went backwards the second half.”

The Cougar women started the contest on fire, racing to a 14-2 lead behind eight points from Pinto. WNCC increased the lead to 22-3 and 26-5 halfway through the period. The Cougars kept excelling on all cylinders, grabbing a 37-9 lead on a Samantha Sanders trey. Little Big Horn had a mini run, scoring eight straight points on two 3-pointers to cut the lead to 41-17 before a Shelby Jones free throw stopped the run for the 42-17 halftime lead.

The second half was a back and forth affair as the Rams outscored the Cougars 39-35, even cutting the lead to 66-45 on a Reva Stewart 3-pointer. The big offensive weapon in the second half was Kyra Peterson, who scored 12 points including two 3-pointers.

Other than that, the Cougars shot just 37 percent in the second half and 42 percent for the game. Worse yet was the team’s free throw shooting, nailing just 52 percent for the game.

WNCC had three players in double figures, led by Pinto with 19 points, eight rebounds, and six blocked shots. Peterson finished with 14 points while Sanders had 10 points. Carolina Alves and Tiffany Moorer each contributed seven rebounds.

WNCC will be back in action Saturday when they host Hastings College junior varsity at 1 p.m.

Little Big Horn 17 39 – 56

WNCC (1-0) 42 35 – 77

LITTLE BIG HORN

Tarrell Poittier 6, Tracy Lewis 7, Ronnae Gramiling 4, Tiffany Wildgoose 8, Reva Stewart 11, Leteisia Left Hand 13, Loretta Brown 2, Diana Sounding Sides 5.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Samantha Sanders 10, Shelby Campbell 6, Tiffany Moorer 4, Kyra Peterson 14, Chidiogo Ofoegbu 2, Jasmine Shaffer 3, Darachia Johnson 4, Leonoa Garrett 4, Thais Pinto 19, Carolina Alves 8, Shelby Jones 3.

No comments: