WNCC women top Trinidad State behind 15 points from Aratani

                The Western Nebraska Community College's Jessica Aratani finished with 15 points and the Cougar women's basketball team shot 50 percent in the second half to capture its first subregion win of the season with a commanding 70-42 win over Trinidad State Junior College on Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.

               The Cougars shot just 32 percent from the field in the first half but found its scoring touch in the second half on connecting on 17 of 35 shots in running to the win. Aratani led all scorers with 15 points and seven rebounds, including scoring eight early points in the second half to lead the Cougars.

               WNCC coach Dave Harnish said his team played well in the second half.

               "We played better second half and had better ball movement as well as ball intensity," Harnish said. "As your intensity goes up so does your scoring and knocking shots down. It is two nights in a row that I thought we played well in the second half. This was a tough turnaround game and I am proud of them to get the win, which we needed desperately."

               It did take a little while for the Cougars to get uncorked after playing so hard in a 2-point loss to Otero Junior College on Friday. Trinidad State held an 8-7 lead on a bucket by Destiny Bregman. After that, though, it was all Cougars as WNCC went on a 11-0 run that was highlighted by four points from Leona Garrett for an 18-8 lead.

               WNCC doubled up the Trojans at 30-15 as Kelsey Doddridge canned a trey and Aratani converted on four free throws. The Cougars led 30-20 at halftime.

               The Cougars' second half was a complete contest as the defense and offense was gelling. Doddridge started the half with a 17-foot bank shot from the corner. After that Aratani took over to put the Cougars up 48-28. Trinidad State had one small 8-0 run to cut the lead to 15, but WNCC quickly rebounded with an 11-0 run of their own, capped by a Lisa Durden 3-pointer, to lead 62-36.

               Harnish said this was a good win for his squad as they came back from a bruising contest on Friday to get the win.

               "It is always tough coming back after playing a hard-fought game last night to turning around and playing today. It was a matter of just sucking it up and getting after it," he said. "We were a little sore and ChaCha kind of sprained her ankle, but from a positive point, we didn't play a great game, we played well enough to win. We played well in spurts in terms of offensively and defensively. i thought defensively we were strong throughout the game. We had balanced scoring and balanced play and the team playing together was encouraging."

               WNCC had three players hit double figures. Besides Aratani's 15 points, Garrett had 12 points and nine rebounds, and Doddridge had 10 points and five rebounds. Idil Ozbayrak finished the contest with just six points, but led the team with eight rebounds. The freshman from Turkey also dished out seven assists and had four steals.

               WNCC, 14-4, will next be in action next weekend when they face Northeast (Neb.) Community and McCook Community College on the road in subregion contests.

              

Trinidad (3-10)                   20 22 -- 42

WNCC (14-4)                     30 40 -- 70

TRINIDAD

Lindsey Pippin 6, Justine Gallegos 2, Nicole Herrera 2, Stephanie Knowles 4, Jaclyn Becker 4, Destiny Bregman 9, Sandra Morales 1, Haley Sheldon 14.

WNCC
Samantha Sanders 8, Jasmine Shaffer 3, Leona Garrett 12, Lisa Durden 8, ChaCha Ofoegbu 8, Idil Ozbayrak 6, Kelsey Doddridge 10, Jessica Aratani 15.