WNCC women's basketball pick up 24th win over Otero

Carolyn Alves finished with a double-double and Kyra Peterson finished with 24 points, including going 14 of 18 from the free throw, to help the Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team to 76-68 win over Otero Junior College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.
               Alves finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds in WNCC's 24th win of the season. The win also kept the Cougar women unbeaten at home with a 12-0 mark. WNCC will look to remain unbeaten at home when they take on Central Wyoming College this afternoon at Cougar Palace. The tip-off is slated for a 2 p.m. start.
               Alves, said they played well as a team, but it wasn't until late in the second half that they opened up the contest.
               "We played like a team and the energy was there," the sophomore from Brazil said. "The effort was there and we played together. We played solid defense all night. We made some mistakes, but we didn't have a lot of turnovers. Everybody was rotating and helping each other."
               Free throw shooting was the big difference in the game. The two squads combined for 52 points. WNCC was 24 of 37 from the line for 65 percent, while Otero was 17 of 27 for 63 percent. Over half of those free throws came from Peteson, who said afterwards that she has never shot 18 free throws in a game.
               WNCC started the contest well, bolting to a 21-9 lead behind six points from Thais Pinto and five straight points from Peterson. Otero, however, fought back, cutting the deficit to 34-33 on a Shannon Rousseau 3-pointer. But, Alves made a late bucket to give the Cougars a 36-33 halftime lead.
               The second half was close for a spell with Otero taking their first lead since the opening bucket at 42-41. Otero later led 56-53 with eight minutes to play on a bucket by Rose Akes. Otero and WNCC kept exchanging buckets until the seven minute mark when WNCC went on a 6-0 run behind back-to-back buckets by Tiffany Moorer for a 64-58 lead.
               WNCC pushed the lead to nine points, 71-62 on a Peterson 3-pointer and clutch free throw shooting. Peterson was 7 of 8 from the charity stripe in the last two minutes of the game.
               WNCC had three players finish with double figures. Besides Peterson and Alves in double figures, Pinto chipped in 10 points as well.
               After Sunday's contest, the Cougar women will have just two more regular season games left. They travel to McCook on Tuesday, before hosting Northeastern Colorado on Saturday at noon.

Otero (21-5)                       33 35 -- 68
WNCC (24-3)                     36 40 -- 76
OTERO JUNIOR COLLEGE
Taylor Rock 4, Shannon Rousseau 12, Tiffany Wilson 2, Chelsea Rotondo 8, Kaitlyn Lowen 13, Rose Akes 8, Ilaisaane Lo'amano 8, Nicole Hansen 2, Aubry Boehme 7.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Samantha Sanders 3, Shelby Campbell 4, Tiffany Moorer 7, Lisa Durden 5, Kyra Peterson 24, ChaCha Ofoegbu 3, Darachia Johnson 4, Thais Pinto 10, Carolyn Alves 16.