GOODLAND,
Kan. -- The Western Nebraska Community College men's and women's basketball
teams kicked off the new year with a split of contests on Monday against
Northwest Kansas Technical College in Kansas.
The
Cougar women put five players in double figures, led by Gritt Ryder's 14 points,
as they ran past Northwest Kansas 88-52 for their third straight win.
The
WNCC men, after getting two clutch 3-pointers by Trey Moore and Rich Williams
in the waning seconds of regulation and overtime, fell to the Mavericks 77-76
in an extra 5-minute period. It was the second time the two squads have gone to
overtime. WNCC won the first encounter back on Dec. 7, 96-85.
The
women's game was all Cougars. After the two squads were tied early at 9-9, the
Cougars went on a 19-2 run to lead 28-11 before leading 55-25 at halftime.
WNCC
quickly put the game away with a 21-point run that pushed the lead to 78-29 and
the Cougars never looked back.
Gritt
Ryder led the way with 14 points followed by Ashley Stevens with 13 points.
Jessica Aratani and Mikayla Brower each chipped in 12 points, while Shalisa
Moffit had 11 points. Michelle Brassard also had a near double-figure night
with nine points.
The
men's contest was a tight-knit contest from the get-go and WNCC coach Russ Beck
was pleased with how hard his team played while playing short-handed. The
Cougars hit a number of clutch shots and they kept fighting until the end.
"We
turned the ball over too much and we gave up too many offensive rebounds,"
he said. "However, we were scrappy and really competed. We had guys step
up and hit huge shots. I was proud of the guys and we need to stay positive and
continue to get better. Starting tomorrow we need to win them all as we start
subregion play."
WNCC
was down early 27-23 deficit to take a 29-27 lead. WNCC led 32-29 in the fading
seconds of the first half before Northwest Kansas hit a deep 3-pointer at the
buzzer to take a 33-32 halftime lead.
The
second half saw the teams switch leads plenty of times. WNCC took a 50-46 lead
on a Cody Johnson 3-pointer.Northwest came back to take a 66-60 lead and led
68-65 with 13 seconds to play. Trey Moore forced overtime as he hit a 3-pointer
with two seconds left.
In
the extra period, the Mavericks went up 74-69 on back-to-back 3-pointers and
led 76-71 with two minutes to play. WNCC came storming back, tying the contest
at 76-76 on a Rich Williams 3-pointer with 50 seconds to play. Northwest's Gian
Clavell then nailed one of two free throws with four seconds to play for the
win.
Both
WNCC teams will be back in action Tuesday when they travel to Lamar Community
College to open up South Subregion play. After Tuesday, the Cougars return home
to face McCook Community College on Friday.
No comments:
Post a Comment