WNCC defeats NCTA-Curtis 98-10 for 10th win of the season

                 The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team received 18 points from Leona Garrett as the Cougars picked up their 10^th win of the season with a blow out win 98-10 over Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture Tuesday night at Cougar Palace.

                The Cougars also set two school records in the one-sided win. WNCC held the Aggies to just two second –half points and they also set the record for allowing the least points in a game.

                On a bigger note, however, the Cougars got a big left from freshman Teyshonnia Bealer-West who saw her first action of the year in pulling down a team-high 12 rebounds. Bealer-West has been sidelined with an injury.

                Garrett said that everyone played well and it was nice to see Bealer-West get into the game for the first time.

                “This is Tey’s first time playing this season and I think she did pretty good,” she said. “She worked really hard. She tried her best to do what she could and she did well.”

                Tuesday’s win was little in doubt from the get-go as the Cougars scored the first 12 points of the contest before the Aggies got on the scoreboard on a 3-point bank shot from Abby Sybrandt. After that, the Cougars went on a 30-0 run and led 48-8 at intermission.

                The Cougars second half defense was stifling as they scored 44 straight points for a 92-8 lead. At one point it looked as if they might hold the Aggies without a point, but NCTA’s Darae Hasper hit a nice five-footer with 2:12 to play to end the Cougars run.

                Garrett said the focus of the game was to get better after suffering two heart-breaking losses last weekend at the Air Force Prep tournament.

                “Our focus as a team was to run our offense and practice on our defense a little bit more, Those were mostly what we were planning on trying to work on during this game,” the sophomore from Brawley, Calif., said. “After our tough losses this weekend, we needed to get back into it.

                They performed well as they shot 50 percent from the field while holding NCTA to 12 percent. They also controlled the boards with a 49-23 edge. Bealer-West pulled down 12 followed by Garrett with eight and Jasmine Shaffer with seven.

                WNCC also forced 39 turnovers and had 39 steals. Lisa Durden finished with seven steals on the night, while Idil Ozbayrak had seven assists.

                The Cougars placed five players in double figures. After Garrett’s 18, Durden finished with 16 points, Ozbayrak had 15, Samantha Sanders had 12 and ChaCha Ofoegbu had 11.

                WNCC, 10-3, will be back in action this weekend when they host the Holiday Classic beginning Thursday when they take on Hastings College junior varsity. The Cougars will also meet Colby Community College on Friday before facing Air Force Prep Saturday afternoon.

NCTA                     8 2 – 10

WNCC (10-3)      40 48 – 98

NCTA

Abby Sybrandt 3, Maddie Thurston 3, Darae Hasper 2, Chelsea Nealon 2.

WNCC

Samantha Sanders 12, Tehshonnia Bealer-West 6, Jasmine Shaffer 4, Leona Garrett 18, Lisa Durden 16, ChaCha Ofoegbu 11, Idil Ozbayrak 15, Kelsey Doddridge 8, Jessica Aratani 4, Ajsa Zdovc 4.