WNCC women's basketball set to tip off Thursday at Williston State

The Western Nebraska Community women’s basketball team will begin the road to another regional title Thursday afternoon at Williston, N.D., and for the Cougar women the season opener doesn’t come any time too soon.

“You are always excited for that opening weekend. It has been a long four weeks and there is no question that they are tired of the same old thing every day in practice,” WNCC coach Dave Harnish said. “We are ready and it is time to get after it.”

The Cougars, who finished last season with a 27-2 record and come into the season ranked No. 9 in the pre-season poll, will travel to Williston, N.D., for a 3-day tournament. WNCC will face Salish Kootenai Thursday at 2 p.m. followed by contests against Williston and Lake Region Friday and Saturday.

Harnish is so much worried about the wins and losses this weekend, he is more worried in playing well.

“The biggest thing we need to do this weekend is worry about ourselves. It is pre-season in a sense that these games don’t mean anything for the region. It is nice to always win but this time of year you are trying to execute offensively and defensively, and play to the best of our ability and not worry what other teams are doing.”

And, with a young team like the Cougars have this year, the first month of the season will be a learning experience.

WNCC returns just five players from last year, in which the season ended in disappointment – a Region IX championship game loss to Casper, which snapped the Cougars four-year reign as regional champs.

“I have 10 freshmen and I really don’t know what to expect out of them in a game situation,” Harnish said. “Every tournament will be tough when you play your first nine games on the road. We will have to grow up very quickly, and with not having Chelsea there the first month of the season, which means we only have four returners, every game will be tough for us early on. Of our six guards, five are freshmen with Alison the only one back.

This weekend’s games should give Harnish an indicator of what to expect from this year’s team. The only difference is that sophomore Chelsea Lyles, a 6-foot forward from Colorado Springs, Colo., will miss this weekend as she will be competing at the Region IX volleyball tournament.

“How talented we are is yet to be seen,” he said. “I think we will shoot the ball well. We are not a very big team, so we will have to. We will have to be a very strong defensive team and create turnovers and try to push the tempo more then we ever have and make up for some our liabilities.”

Harnish said the one weakness on this year’s team is height. But he said, what they lack in height, they should make up in other areas.

“Every year is a little bit different team and there is no question that this year is different,” he said. “There definitely are some holes and weaknesses. I thought we would have a little bit more height. What we lack in size we try to stress to be a bit more aggressive defensively and get after people a little bit more, both on the half-court and full-court side.”

Besides Lyles, other sophomores returning include 6-0 Dana Iverson and 6-0 Carly Glisan of Ft. Collins, Colo., and 6-0 Emma Beddome of Melbourne, Australia.

WNCC’s freshman class looks promising. Leading the class are three Scottsbluff high gradauates in 5-9 SeLina Ysac, 5-9 Maribel Arellano and 5-4 Ashley Burns.

The rest of the talented freshmen include 5-3 Cheri Palmer and Eli Cosmo-Gonzalez of Denver, Colo., Michelle Lighthall and Shaquilah Davis of Colorado Springs, Colo., Maggie Murtagh of Berthoud, Colo., Tawny Drexler of Golden, Colo., and Jena Colwell of Townsville, Australia.

“You can’t really look at anybody standing out right now. practices and scrimmages are all a different environment and until you get these freshmen kids into a game situation and find out how they perform in a game, you don’t know who will do well at this time. You are just trying to find what best combinations work and who works well together,”

After this weekend’s contests, WNCC will continue their road swing with tournament games in Colby, Kan., Nov. 8-10 and then Colorado Springs, Colo., 16-18 before returning home for the Thanksgiving Classic Nov. 23-24.

2007-08 WNCC Women’s Basketball Roster
10 – Cheri Palmer, 5-3 freshman from Denver, Colo., 12 – Dana Iverson, 6-0 sophomore from Ft. Collins, Colo., 13 – Emma Beddome, 6-0 sophomore from Melbourne, Australia, 21 – Michelle Lighthall, 6-0 freshman from Colorado Springs, Colo., 22 – SeLina Ysac, 5-9 freshman from Gering, Neb., 23 – Shaquilah Davis, 5-7 freshman from Colorado Springs, Colo., 24 – Maggie Murtagh, 5-6 freshman from Berthoud, Colo., 32 – Alison Cheney, 5-8 sophomore from Ault, Colo., 33 – Tawny Drexler, 6-0 freshman from Golden, Colo., 34 – Jena Colwell, 5-10 freshman Townsville, Australia, 40 – Eli Cosme-Gonzalez, 5-7 freshman from Denver, Colo., 42 – Chelsea Lyles, 6-0 sophomore from Colorado Springs, Colo., 44 – Maribel Arellano, 5-9 freshman from Scottsbluff, Neb., 52 – Carly Glisan, 6-0 sophomore from Ft. Collins, Colo., 54 – Ashley Burn, 5-4 freshman from Scottsbluff, Neb.

WNCC Women’s Basketball Schedule
November
1-3 – Williston State Tournament, Williston, N.D., 8-10 – Colby Ambassador Classic, Colby, Kan., 16-18 – Air Force Prep Tourney, Colorado Springs, Colo., 23-24 – Thanksgiving Classic, Scottsbluff, 29 – South Sub-region tourney, Lamar, Colo.
December
1 – South Sub-region tourney, Lamar, Colo.; 6-8 – Lady Cougar Holiday Classic, Scottsbluff.
January
9 – McCook Community College, Scottsbluff, 11 – Lamar Community College, Lamar, Colo., 12 – Otero Junior College, La Junta, Colo., 16 – Casper College, Scottsbluff, 23 – Northeastern Junior College, Sterling, Colo., 26 – Northeast Community College, Norfolk, Neb., 30 – Eastern Wyoming College, Scottsbluff.
February
2 – McCook Community College, McCook, Neb., 9 – Lamar Community College, Scottsbluff; 12 – Casper College, Casper, Wyo., 16 – Northeast Community College, Scottsbluff, 20 – Northeastern Junior College, Scottsbluff, 23 – Otero Junior College, Scottsbluff, 27 – Eastern Wyoming College, Torrington, Wyo.