WNCC set to tangle with NJC Thursday night

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams will venture in hostile territory tonight when the Cougars invade Sterling, Colo., to face the Northeastern Junior College Plainsmen and Plainswomen.

The Cougar women, who are still No. 9 in the latest NJCAA national poll with an unblemished record, will be looking to remain unbeaten against a talented Plainswomen squad. Tip-off for the women’s game is slated for 5:30 p.m. with the men’s game to follow.

“It will be a very intense game [tonight],” sophomore Victoria Martin said. “We usually have a hard time playing there because there fans are really wild and loud. Mentally, I think it will be a tough game. Physically, we are ready.”

What matters most for the Cougar women is to continue to play tough and try to get more respect in the national polls. Martin said they are semi-satisfied of being ranked No. 9 in the latest poll.

“We always think we should be better ranked of course, but that will come with time,” she said. “I think we just need to keep playing hard like we are. It is like we have to keep proving ourselves and keep on winning games.”

To get that respect, the team needs to keep playing well, and one of the strengths of this year’s team is defense. The Cougars are the fourth best team in the nation in defense with an average of 46.625. They only trail Brevard Community College (43.556), Hutchinson Community College (45.882) and Southeastern Illinois (46.375).

Saturday night, the Cougar women held Western Wyoming Community College, a team that came in with a 14-3 record, to just 30 points. Martin said they pride themselves in playing hard-nosed defense.

“I think our defense is getting a lot better then it was at the beginning of the year,” she said. “Saturday, we really didn’t realize we did that [holding Western Wyoming to 30 points]. After game was over and we were looking at the score, it felt pretty cool knowing that you could hold a team to low of a score.”

While the Cougar women are probably the favorites to win tonight against a 13-4 NJC team who lost 64-47 to Casper on Saturday night, the Cougar men will be facing a NJC team that has sparkled this season. The Plainsmen are ranked No. 9 in the latest NJCAA national poll with a 15-1 mark, moving up four spots from a week ago.

WNCC head coach John Jungers said this is a talented team.

“They are 15-1 right now and they are very talented,” he said. “Coach [Eddie] Trenkle has done an excellent job in his first year. They are playing at home, which makes them a very dangerous team.”

Jungers said for WNCC to knock off the No. 9 team, they need to play at their tempo.

“We can’t let them dedicate to us how we are going to play. That involves taking quick shots or allowing runs,” he said. “I also have been very pleased with how we shot the ball [from the free throw line]. We have done a good job lately and something that early on I didn’t think we were good at. We worked at it and I think it is an area that we really have improved. A lot of times that will help win games.”

But, don’t rule anything out for this year’s Cougar men’s team. The men are on a 3-game winning streak and have won five of their last seven ball games, and are playing well all around the court.

“I think we just continued to get better,” he said. “We have guarded better, we have rebounded better, and I think our motion offense is getting better. We just need to make sure we continue to play.”

The WNCC men, who are 6-10 on the season (12-4 without the forfeits from earlier in the season), are 3-0 start in the east sub-region. The Cougars have won some impressive games in their last three contests, downing McCook Community College 72-53, Northeast Community College 81-47 and then Tuesday night disposing of Laramie County Community College 84-73.

“These last few games has been a good preparation. Northeast, Laramie County and NJC are all very athletic and they are long. But, as far as being able to score from the perimeter, I think NJC has the ability to do that.”

NJC is fourth in Region IX in 3-point shooting, canning 40 percent of the long balls. The Cougars is not far behind, sitting sixth in the region at 38.1 percent. WNCC, though, has already canned 117 treys compared to Northeastern’s 88.

While both teams are deadly from the outside, it is the inside game for both squads that have stood out as of late. In WNCC’s 81-47 win over Northeast on Saturday, the Cougars three inside players Ricardo De Bem, Beno Jaekel and Matthew Akins combined for 57 points. De Bem had 28 only.

Jungers is pleased with the team’s inside game and the unselfishness of the team collecting assists.

“It doesn’t mean those inside guys need to take every shot because our perimeter players are very good scorers and shooters,” he said. “We always talk about sharing the ball and creating a scoring opportunity for your teammate. The other night Matthew Akins gave up the ball for one else for a dunk and Matt was more excited.“

Tonight’s contests will not be available on the air or the Internet, because of the switchover of KPNY owners on Monday. The new owners elected to drop sports on the station.