The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team will be spending this Thanksgiving with their teammates preparing for a showdown with Colorado Northwestern Community College as the men and women prepare for the 3-day Thanksgiving Classic, which begins Thanksgiving night.
The Cougar women, 6-1, will be the only game on Thanksgiving as they face the Spartans at 7 p.m.. CNCC handed the WNCC its only defeat of the season in overtime at the Colby Invite. The tournament continues through Saturday.
Kelsey Doddridge said this tournament will be a little bit different for many of the players since they won't be able to go home for Thanksgiving.
"It will be a shocker for some of us because most of us are used to being with our families on Thanksgiving," she said. "Some of our families aren't able to come down and some will be here, so I think that is where the team comradely comes into play too, because we know right know that all we have is each other and that is our makeshift family for the moment."
When it times time to lace up the shoe laces on Thanksgiving night, the women's team will definitely put behind them all that turkey and mashed potatoes as they get set to face Colorado Northwestern, a team that surprised the Cougars 57-56 in overtime two weeks go.
"We are excited to play Colorado Northwestern, that is for sure. We watched the film this [Wednesday] morning and we have been working all week in practice," the 5-foot-8 guard said. "We just need to play good, smart basketball. The last time we played Colorado Northwestern, we didn't run an offense, and we didn't run our defenses right. We just need to stay within our offenses because we know they will work."
Since that lone loss to CNCC a couple weeks ago, the team has been exceptional defense. WNCC is giving up just 50 points a game and since that 57-56 overtime loss to Colorado Northwestern, the Cougars have turned up the heat on the defensive end, allowing an average of 41 points a game.
WNCC's four contests saw them defeat Fort Carson 86-44, Colorado Christian J.V. 77-43, Hastings College junior varsity 76-40, and Colby Community College 59-41.
"I think we are getting a lot tougher and we are starting to work together a lot more," Doddridge said. "We are talking a lot more with each other, letting each other know when picks are coming through. We are starting to get a lot tougher, too, which helps. You have to get tough to get through picks . We have improved a lot since North Dakota."
Doddridge said that this team has picked up its intensity since the opening weekend, and that is something they need because they are not a tall team.
"It is extremely important to play strong defense," she said. "Height matters, don't get me wrong, but we saw with the men's team that a shorter team beat them. so we know if we are a short team and we play strong defense we can beat a taller team."
The Cougars have many weapons on the court, including Kyra Peterson. Peterson is fifth in Region IX in scoring at 17.7 points a game. The sophomore is also second in the region with 4.3 steals a game. The Cougars also have several other players that have come on strong, including Samantha Sanders, who is among the top 10 in assists at 3.9 a game, while Doddridge cracked the top 10 in steals at 3.1.
Doddridge said there is no question that this team has gotten better each time they step on the court.
"I think we are getting better and Coach Harnish told us that he doesn't care about wins and losses, he cares about us getting better," she said. "IWe have gotten better because we are staying in the offense a lot more, we are working with each other a lot more, and we are starting to play better defense. We are just working together a lot better than we did the first couple games."
The big thing for the women's team is to minimize their mistakes. Doddridge said the goal is to play a perfect game where everything clicks.
"We are close to where we want to be. Obviously we would like to be undefeated, but i think right now we are happy to where we are," she said. "We are getting better and tougher each game, and we are getting smarter in running our offenses. I think coach would like us to be more crisp because he wants us to make the right pass every time or see the post every time, but no one is perfect. We are getting close to where we want to be and I think Coach is happy because we are getting better each game."
After the solo contest on Thanksgiving, the tournament heats up on Friday and Saturday with four games each day. Friday's schedule will have the Eastern Wyoming women facing Colorado Northwestern at 1 p.m. followed by the Eastern Wyoming men meeting the Ft. Collins All-stars at 3 p.m. The WNCC men and women will follow with both teams meeting Oglala Lakota College at 5 and 7 p.m.
Saturday's action will see Oglala Lakota and Colorado Northwestern at 1 p.m., the EWC women facing the Nebraska All-stars at 3 p.m., the EWC men taking on Oglala Lakota at 5 p.m. and the WNCC men taking on the Ft. Collins All-stars at 7 p.m.
The Ft. Collins All-stars are a team that one can't take lightly. Last weekend, the all-star team split games at the LCCC Invite, falling to Laramie County 87-52 before beating EWC 67-66.
NOTES: This weekend will be Westmoor Elementary night at Cougar Palace where Westmoor students will get in free to any of the contests in the three-day tournament. ... Also, Friday night, the Playhouse Skate and Fun Center will have a jump house set up in Cougar Palace beginning at 5 p.m. for youngsters. ... After this weekend's contests, the WNCC men will be back at home for another tournament next weekend when they host defending NJCAA champions the College of Southern Idaho along with Laramie County Community College and Northwest Wyoming. CSI and WNCC each have 6-1 records, while Northwest is unbeaten at 8-0 and LCCC is 1-3.
No comments:
Post a Comment