CASPER, Wyo. -- The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team stepped up the defense in the second half and came back from a 16-point deficit to sting Miles Community College 69-66 in overtime.
The dramatic win pushes the Cougars into the semifinals against Casperm who defeated Northeastern Junior College 66-59.
Monday's overtime win was the third time the Cougars have go to overtime on the court of Casper College. The Cougars lost to Casper in overtime in the regular season. Then, on Saturday in the first round, topped Central Wyoming 69-62 in the extra period before claiming the overtime thriller tonight.
WNCC coach Dave Harnish said his players found the will to win.
"We have been kind of lucky, but we fought our way through it to get to the semifinals," he said. "We will have to play a lot better, especially shooting the ball better and making our free throws. Now, every game is big now and since you are in the semifinals and it doesn't matter who you play." Kyra Peterson, who had a clutch 3-point play in overtime to give the Cougars a 66-63 lead, said this team kept believing.
"It was really big because we played with a lot of heart. Everybody did a good job," the freshman from Lafayette, Colo., said. "We just new we had to keep playing hard [when we were down by 15]. We knew that if we didn't the second half would be our last half of basketball so we gave it everything we had and play every minute like it was our last. we just believed in each other and won the game."
Harnish said the team's defense and rebounding was the underlying key to the team's come-from-behind win.
"It is important to move on and be in the semifinals. The key was, being down by 17, we started to be a little bit more solid defensively. We knew who the shooters were and we played good, solid defense and got ourselves back into it.," he said. "We finally rebounded better int eh last 10 minutes of the game and overtime. That was the key to play the way we played first semester and some second semester. We just haven't been doing it lately."
Another big reason for the win was that whoever stepped onto the floor contributed in some fashion. That, according to Peterson, was huge.
"That was huge to have everyone contribute," she said. "Defensively we were load and everybody knows their role on the team and how to motivate each other."
The Cougars were being schooled in the first half as the Pioneers sizzled the nets for 42 percent shooting and connected on five 3-pointers. The Cougars shot just 28 percent in the first field and were a miserable 3 of 9 from the charity stripe. On top of that, the Cougars were being out-rebounded something fierce in the first half.
The second half was a total different look as the Cougars went on to out rebound Miles 44-36, led by Thais Pinto's 13 rebounds and ChaCha Ofoegbu's nine boards. Tiffany Moorer also cleaned the class for seven boards.
Shooting was a big plus for the Cougars in the second half as they finished with 37 percent from the game, while limiting Miles to just 35 percent for the game.
Early on both teams were neck-and-neck. Miles, leading 16-15, went on a 11-0 run to go up by 12 at 27-15 on three straight 3-pointers. The Pioneers led 34-23 at intermission.
Miles continue playing well in the early part of the second half, scoring the first six points for a 40-23 lead. The Pioneers then led 41-25 before the Cougars decided to show up. At that point, the Cougars went on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to single digits, 41-32.
Miles came back to go up 52-44 on another 3-pointer with eight minutes left in the game. WNCC rebounded, going on a 9-0 run to grab their first lead since they led 9-6. The run was highlighted by four points from Tiffany Moorer and Kyra Peterson. Peterson had tha bucket to put WNCC in front.
WNCC went up 59-57 on a Carolina Alves bucket but saw Kassie Barta hit two free throws with 5.2 seconds to tie the game and force overtime.
In the extra five minutes, Lisa Durden and Thais Pinto hit buckets to put WNCC up 63-61. Ivana Domjanovic came back to hit a field goal to tie the game at 63-63. Peterson changed the momentum by driving to the bucket for a bucket and a and-one free throw with just over a minute to play.
Miles couldn't get a shot and Shelby Campbell got a steal and put in one of two free throws with 12.7 second left to put WNCC up by four. Barta came back and banked in a 3-pointer, but Peterson sank two free throws with a second left to seal the win.
WNCC had five players finish in double figures, led by a double-double by Pinto with 18 points and 13 rebounds. Peterson chipped in 16 points, Alves had 15 points and Moorer had 10 points.
Miles City was led by Ieva Jansone's 21 points followed by Barta with 15 and Micah Kirkpatrick with 11 points.
Harnish said he wishes he wouldn't have to coach in these overtime thrillers, but the credit for the win has to go to the players.
"it is frustrating when you are not playing well. But it is exciting when the kids are playing well and you get back in the game and have a chance to win," he said. "I wish I wouldn't have to coach in games like this, but the kids came out and turned it around when we needed to. It was a good win for them."
Miles (26-6) 34 25 7 -- 66
WNCC (28-4) 23 36 10 -- 69
MILES COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Shaye Murphey 4, Christen Lopez 4, Kassie Barta 15, Micah Kirkpatrick 11, Echo Thurston 3, Ieva Jansone 21, Ivana Domjanovic 8.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Samantha Sanders 2, Shelby Campbell 1, Tiffany Moorer 10, Lisa Durden 5, Kyra Peterson 16, ChaCha Ofoegbu 2, Thais PInto 18, Carolina Alves 15
Sunday's Games
Northeast Nebraska 69, Western Wyoming 67
McCook 76, Gillette 61
Miles 87, Lamar 68
Northeastern Colorado 94, Northwest Wyoming 81
Monday's Games
Northeast Nebraska 81, Sheridan 79
Otero 64, McCook 54
WNCC 69, Miles C.C. 66 OT
Casper 66, Northeastern Colorado 59
Tuesday's Games
5 p.m. -- Northeast Nebraska vs. Otero J.C.
7 p.m. -- Western Nebraska vs. Casper
Wednesday's Final
2 p.m. -- Winners of Tuesday's games
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