The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s basketball team will host another sub-region contest on Tuesday when McCook Community College comes to Cougar Palace.
The women’s contest tips off at 5:30 p.m. followed by the men’s contest. Both games should be barnburners as McCook brings in two solid programs.
The McCook women are having one of its best seasons to date as they are sitting at 16-5 on the season, including wins over Casper (73-67), Dodge City (118-90) and Central Wyoming (79-74).
The No. 11 WNCC women are just two wins from another 20-win season. WNCC picked up its 18th win of the season on Saturday with a 78-48 win over Northeast Nebraska. Tuesday’s contest between WNCC and McCook will definitely be a battle of offenses. Both squads are averaging 70 points a game.
“It is a big game because it is a sub-region game,” freshman Kyra Peterson said. “They are a good team so we have to go out and play disciplined, play defense and have a high intensity game. It is important to win all our sub-region games.”
What will decide the contest will be defense. The Cougar women are ranked second in the nation in defense, giving up just 49 points a game. The Cougar women have allowed about 50 or fewer points in five of their last six games. Peterson said that defense makes the offense go.
“It definitely is big for us to play strong defense because that is what creates our offense,” she said. “If we play intense on defense, then we are going to pick it up on offense. “
That is what the Cougar women did Saturday night with the 30-point win against Northeast Nebraska. In that game, the Cougars started slow but opened up the contest with an 18-0. Peterson said it is important for them to start fast against a good McCook squad.
“We need to start strong right from the tipoff,” she said. “It will be important to start off with high energy. We need to get everyone talking, including the bench. It is also important so we can set a tone early in the game instead of waiting halfway through.”
McCook’s top scorers are Davina Jefferson and Porsche Shakes. Jefferson , a freshman from Miami, is averaging 19.5 points a game, while Shakes, a freshman from West Palm Beach, Fla., is scoring at a clip of 13.1 points.
Peterson said they will need to contain the two freshman guards.
“They have two quick guards that are good players,” she said. “We just have to stay down, play solid defense, and not get into foul trouble against them.”
Peterson said they are in a midst of playing some tough games, and the loss to Casper last week might have been an eye-opener. The Cougars fell to the Thunderbirds 73-67 in overtime last Tuesday.
“That loss definitely gave us a feeling of what a loss feels like and none of us want to feel it again,” she said. “So, it has motivated us. We go harder in practice every day. We know we have to come out with intensity and don’t give up in a game because any team can come back any day.”
Just like the women’s contest, the men’s game will be an interesting matchup. The Cougar men, who have dropped their last four games to slip to 9-10 on the season, will face a McCook squad that is 12-8 and winners of their last two contests. The Indians have been on an offensive tear in their last four contests, topping North Platte Community College 129-104 on Thursday and then beating the William Penn junior varsity 128-81 on Saturday.
McCook also topped Southeast Nebraska 106-72 and then beat Hastings College junior varsity 93-80.
The Cougar men have found the going tough in their last 10 games, which included a 84-66 loss lose to Northeast Nebraska on Saturday at Cougar Palace.
A win against McCook, though, will put the Cougars back into a position to win the East sub-region with a chance to host the regional tournament. A loss, gives the Indians the inside edge to host regionals.
After Tuesday’s contests, both Cougar teams will hit the road for contests Saturday at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colo.
No comments:
Post a Comment