The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams will open the second semester in the Highway 26 Border War against Eastern Wyoming College Tuesday, Jan. 11, at Cougar Palace.
Both Cougars teams enter with contrasting records. The Cougar women enter the 2011 opener riding a sterling 14-0 record and a No. 19 ranking in the nation. The Cougar women will face an Eastern Wyoming College squad that has lost four straight contests. The women’s contest tips off at 5:30 p.m. followed by the men’s contest.
The men’s contest will be an interesting contest as records mean very little. The Cougar men, who have been off since Dec. 4, enter with an 8-6 mark after dropping their last five contests. The Lancers record is also deceiving. EWC enters with a 2-11 mark, but they easily could be 11-2.
Beck said EWC is one of the hardest-playing teams another team can face.
“We got to watch them play a little bit and watched some film on them and to be honest with you, they are probably the hardest playing team in our region,” he said. “They play with great effort and intensity. They do the little things. They get on the floor for loose balls. They share the ball. They are really crafty. They are going to come with a whole lot of energy. If we are going to take care of business, we have to match their energy.”
Beck said it is not so much of what EWC does, it is more important for his team to play well. Beck has seen progress from the team in the five days of practice since the team returned from the holiday break.
“We have been retooling some things offensively, trying to build a little better chemistry with our squad,” he said. “I think we are one of the more talented teams within our region, but we need to play a little bit more constant in terms of our effort and our intensity. I think we have learned a lot about our team from the first semester in playing a very tough schedule. I am excited about the second semester and the prospects of where we can take this too.”
The Cougar men have been practicing for the last five days to shake off that holiday rust. Beck said that he likes the energy that the players have right now, heading into the important slate of games.
“The best practices we have had all year have all occurred in the last couple of days,” Beck said. “That excites me with our energy. The boys are refocused. They weren’t pleased with all the results from the first semester. They are hungry and I can see some chemistry starting to gel.”
Both Lancer teams have already played in the new year, both suffering losses this past weekend at home. The Lancer men fell to Casper College 65-54 and Gillette College 84-74, while the EWC women lost to Casper 78-53 and Gillette 103-72.
Beck said that really doesn’t matter.
“Any adjustments that we made over the break are not evident to anyone yet until we play, so that is a little advantage to us,” he said. “The advantage to them is that they had a chance to knock off that holiday rust when they played Casper and Gillette. I think it goes either way, but all that is out of the window when the ball goes up.”
After Tuesday’s contest, the Cougar men and women will face Lamar Community College and Otero Junior College on the road on Friday and Saturday.
NOTES
The Cougar softball team will also be holding a chili supper during the evening from 5-7 p.m. The chili supper will be held in the Cougar Den and includes all-you-can-eat chili. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $5.
Tuesday’s promotion is WNCC staff and faculty appreciation. Members of the WNCC family will be recognized at the game. Each will also receive a free bag of popcorn.
There are a couple of roster changes for the second semester for the men’s and women’s basketball team. On the men’s side, the Cougars lost Gering’s Chris Jackson who decided to not play basketball. But, the Cougar men added Alliance graduate TJ Peltz, who will redshirt this season. Peltz is a 6-3 forward/guard. As for the women’s team, only one player didn’t return and that was guard Brittany Macey.
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