It’s
been five years since the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball
team has won a regional title and the Cougars are one win away from capturing
their 10th regional championship.
The
22nd-ranked Cougars accomplished that feat with another stellar first-half
offensive and defensive output in dropping McCook Community College 89-72
Wednesday night in the semifinals of the Region IX Tournament at Cougar Palace.
WNCC
will battle Gillette College for the championship at 6 p.m. Thursday at Cougar
Palace with the winner advancing to the national tournament March 18-23 in
Salina, Kan. Gillette earned the berth in the title game with a dramatic 81-74
overtime victory over Northwest Wyoming.
As
for the Cougars, Morrill’s Jessica Aratani said the team is excited to be
playing for a title, but they realize that they have to be ready to play, just
like they did in the first three games of the tournament.
“Everyone
is happy right now and this is what we have been working for a year and is
feels nice to be in this position and to have this opportunity to get a Region
IX championship and make the most out of it,” Aratani, who last won a
championship in her senior year at Morrill two years ago. “Tomorrow, we just
have to stick to what we came from all year and that is our defense. Our
defense drives us to do well on offense. Gillette is athletic but if we stick
to our fundamentals and play we well, we will be fine.”
A
big key for the Cougars on the night was shooting. Once again, the Cougars shot
over 50 percent for the game, finishing at 51 percent. WNCC also buried nine
3-pointers, four of which came from a hot-handed Shalisa Moffit who rang in
four treys, while Mikayla Brower and Kelsey Doddridge each had two.
While
the 3-point shots were raining in, it was the inside game that proved
beneficial, where the Cougars drove to the bucket a number of times for buckets
and got huge rebounds for putbacks. Ashley Stevens was the big muscle inside
pulling down a game-high 10 boards
“Our
3-point shooting has been phenomenal all year,” she said. “Sometimes it is easy
for us to rely on that, but Coach [Dave] Harnish has been preaching to us to
get it inside because it is better to work inside out for us. I think we have a
pretty strong inside game with Ashley and everyone. It has been working a lot
better for us.”
And,
for a third straight game, the Cougars started strong in the first half and
that, Aratani said, is a major factor in the team’s success.
“If
we come out strong in the first half, we usually feed off of that and it
carries on into the second half,” she said. “That first five minutes of the
second half is always key for us, too.
WNCC
opened the contest on an 8-0 run and led 13-3 on a Brower 3-pointer. WNCC kept
it’s hot shooting alive as Doddridge and Moffit had back-to-back 3-pointers. In
fact Moffit had three straight 3-pointers to help WNCC to a 30-11 lead which
expanded to 20 at halftime, 41-21.
The
closest McCook got in the second half was 12 points at 73-61. After that, Gritt
Ryder scored five straight points and Doddridge hit a clutch trey to push the
contest to 83-67.
The
Cougars had five players in double figures. Aratani led the way with 20 points
and six rebounds, while Stevens finished with a double-double of 13 points and
10 rebounds. Also hitting the double-digit mark were Moffit and Brower with 14
points each, and Ryder with 11 points, nine of which came in the second half.
McCook
was led in scoring by Akia Davis with 19 points, while Mikaila Newton and
Shelby Hemmann each had 11 points.
In
the earlier game, the Pronghorns held a slim 38-37 lead at halftime. Gillette
trailed by two points with a minute to play on a bucket by Northwest’s Kennedy
Allen with a minute to play. Kenosha Wright then hit two free throws with 26.6
seconds to play to tie the game at 66-66 to force overtime.
In
the extra period, Gillette took the lead for good at 70-68 on two Wright free
throws and 74-70. Northwest cut the lead to 74-72 on a bucket by Leslie
Blackburn, but the Pronghorns went on a 6-0 run to seal their berth in the
title game.
Wright
led the Pronghorns with a double-double of 23 points and 10 rebounds. Alicia
Carline also had a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Andressa
Augusto led Northwest with 19 points.
First Game
Northwest 37
29 8 – 74
Gillette 38
38 15 – 81
NORTHWEST
Savannah Minder 8, Andressa Augusto 19, Kennedy Allen 14,
Leslie Thronburg 8, Leanne Winterholler 5, Leslie Blackburn 12, Imari Simpson
8.
GILLETTE
Halli Stocklin 6, Christina Davis 11, Kiela Garner 15,
Mattison Jolivich 1, Alicia Carline 15, Kenosha Wright 23, Freye Newton 7,
Breanna Thomas 3.
Second Game
McCook 31
51 – 72
WNCC 41
48 – 89
MCCOOK
Amir Davis 7, Akia Davis 19, Brehanna Daniels 1, Mikaila
Newton 11, Tiffani Lewis 7, Janecia Jenkins 9, Julie Gallegos 5, Shelby Hemmann
11, Mary-Ann Frederick 2.
WNCC
Mikayla Brower 14, Laurin Rivera 9, Kelsey Doddridge 8,
Gritt Ryder 11, Shalisa Moffit 14, Ashley Stevens 13, Jessica Aratani 20.
No comments:
Post a Comment