WNCC women drop McCook in fnal regular season game

                Western Nebraska Community College's ChaCha Ofoegbu made sure her last game at Cougar Palace was a positive one.

                The 6-foot sophomore from Cerritos, Calif., finished with a double-double to lead the Cougar women to a 61-56 sub-region win over McCook Community College Saturday afternoon.

                Ofoegbu finished with 10 points and 13 rebounds on the night. She also dished out three assists in leading the Cougars to their 21st victory of the season. More importantly, it gives WNCC the No. 3 seed into next month's Region IX tournament which will be held at Casper College after Casper defeated Sheridan College 71-70 on Saturday.

                Ofoegbu said this team played hard throughout where the Cougars led practically from start to finish.

                "I think that we knew that this was a big game in all aspects and that motivated us to play hard," she said. "It feels great [to win the final home game]. Winning at home in front of our fans is one of the best feelings in the world."

                The Cougars played well enough to withstand plenty of McCook runs and each time WNCC would find a way to silence that run. The first half was nip and tuck as McCook took a 5-4 lead early on a Aamir Davis 3-pointer, but WNCC came back with a 14-5 run for an 18-10 lead.

                McCook kept battling back slicing the lead to 24-21 on a Keli Coffer bucket. The Cougars rebounded as they closed out the first half on a 10-2 run that was highlighted by six points from Lisa Durdan for a 34-23 halftime lead.

                McCook came out to start the second period with eight straight points, including seven straight from Scottsbluff graduate DeNae Quijas to cut the lead to 34-32. WNCC came back to take a 9-point lead at 44-35 as Kelsey Doddridge had seven points.

                WNCC kept playing strong as they build a 54-42 lead on two Samantha Sanders free throws. The Indians came charging back with a 9-0 run to get within 54-51. WNCC's defense kept McCook from taking the lead as Sanders had a clutch bucket to put the Cougars back up by five. The Cougars then nailed 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to get the win.

                WNCC dominated the boards, out rebounding the Indians 43-32. Ofoegbu had 13 boards, 12 of which were on the defensive end. Sanders and Leona Garrett also pulled down six rebounds.

                The Cougars also had balanced scoring with three in double figures. Sanders led the way with 13 points followed by 12 from Doddridge and 10 from Ofoegbu. Sanders also had five assists.

                McCook also had three in double digits. Porsche Shakes led the way with 15 points while Quijas finished with 11 points and Mikaila Newton had 10 points.

                WNCC, 21-7, will next be in action next Saturday when they travel to Casper College.

McCook (15-12)                                23 33 -- 56

WNCC (21-7)                      34 27 -- 61

MCCOOK

Aamir Davis 6, Mikaila Newton 10, DeNae Quijas 12, Tiffani Lewis 2, Alayna White 9, Porsche Shakes 15, Kelli Coffey 3.

WNCC

Samantha Sanders 13, Jasmine Shaffer 3, Leona Garrett 9, Lisa Durdan 6, ChaCha Ofoegbu 10, Kelsey Doddridge 12, Jessica Aratani 8