Jess
Samorodova paced the Cougars with 13 points followed by Mikayla Brower with 12
points. Gritt Ryder also chipped in 10 points in the win. Brower paced the team
with two of the seven three-pointers.Idil Ozbayrak and Lauren Rivera each added
nine points.
WNCC
coach Dave Harnish, who is starting his 25th year as head coach,
said while it was nice to get some playing time for his 11 freshmen, he saw
lots of room for improvement.
“I
thought we struggled because we didn’t stop the ball because they did a good
job penetrating on us and we didn’t do a good job of rotating to stop the
ball,” Harnish said. “We really didn’t rebound the ball that well; we were
out-rebounded in the first half.
“But
the transition was good with a lot of steals and we generated most of our points
off transition. But we struggled a little bit offensively to get into the
offensive sets. Overall, though, it was a good game for us. It was a first game
for the freshmen. It is a good situation where they get to put the uniforms on,
people are here to watch, and we can get the first-game jitters out and get
ready to play down in Colby.”
WNCC
controlled the tempo from the get-go, but the Nebraska All-stars battled for
the entire game. The Cougars held a 40-37 rebound advantage over the All-stars
that consisted of a number of former Cougar players and high school basketball
stars who graduated within the past two years.
WNCC
jumped out to an 16-3 lead as Samorodova had eight early points while Rider
scored five straight points. The All-stars made a slight comeback, scoring four
straight points to cut the lead to 16-7 on three points from former Gering High
and WNCC Cougar Yoda Woods, but the Cougars would go on a 9-0 and later an 8-0
run. Both runs were highlighted by freshmen players as Brower connected on
seven points, including a 3-pointer. Kate Kerkhoff also had four points.
The
Cougars led 48-14 at halftime on two field goals each by Alyssa Yates, Ozbayrak
and Maurissa Ortega.
The
Cougars shot 48 percent from the field, including making 18 of 22 free throws.
WNCC also connected on 7 of 19 treys. The Cougars defense also limited the
All-stars to just 16 percent shooting. The all-stars, however, were sizzling
from the free throw line, connecting on 12 of 18 charity shots.
WNCC
also shared the ball well, dishing out 31 assists. Ryder, the sophomore
transfer from the University of Alaska Anchorage, had seven assists followed by
Ortega with six assists. Ryder also had four steals while Ortega had six
steals.
The
Nebraska All-stars were led by Ashley (Burns) Guzman and Woods with eight
points each.
WNCC,
1-0, will next be in action next weekend when they travel to Colby, Kan., for a
3-day tournament.
Harnish
said this was a good tune-up for his young team heading into the rest of the
season.
“This
is the first game for 11 kids and I am sure they were nervous,” he said. “This
was a good chance for them to get the butterflies out and hopefully they will
play better when we go down to Colby.”
NE All-stars 14
15 – 29
WNCC (1-0) 48
41 – 89
NEBRASKA ALL-STARS
Rebecca (Hughes) Martinez 4, Tera (Schmid) Segelke 2,
Ashley (Burns) Guzman 8, Kelsey Kudrna 1, Shantel Muniz 2, Samantha Sanders 3,
April Olson 1, Yoda Woods 8.
WNCC
Mikayla Brower 13, Lauren Rivera 9. Kelsey Doddridge 3, Gritt
Ryder 10, Shalisa Moffitt 3, Katie Kerkhoff 6, Maurissa Ortega 7, Idil Ozbayrak
9, Michelle Brassard 3, Alyssa Yates 6, Ashley Stevens 2, Jessica Aratani 4,
Jess Samovodova 13.
No comments:
Post a Comment