WNCC< EWC women win openers of Thanksgiving Classic

The Western Nebraska Community College and Eastern Wyoming College women’s basketball team’s opened the Thanksgiving Classic in fine fashion at Cougar Palace.

The Lancers put four players in double figures, including a 22-point outing by Skye Smith, to run past Lamar Community College 76-66. The Cougars put two in double-figures and used a 18-4 run midway through the first half to claim a 79-54 win.

The Classic continues today with Pratt taking on Lamar at 1 p.m. and WNCC facing EWC at 5 p.m.

WNCC coach Dave Harnish said his team continues to struggle offensively.

“We have struggled offensively all season long. We did that tonight again in streaks, especially starting the game. We got a little bit better rhythm before halftime to get it up by 14 at halftime,” he said. “I think the best we played was the first five or six minutes of the second half, both offensively and defensively. Then we went another 10 minutes where we scored just two or four points. It has been a struggle and after 10 games, you would think we would do things better.”

Friday evening, the Cougar women went 1 of 11 from the 3-point area and 16 of 28 from the free throw line. The Cougars also shot 39.7 percent from the field in the win.

For a stretch there, the Pratt Beavers were in control of the Cougars, running to an 8-3 lead five minutes into the game. It was at that point the Cougar defense picked up and the offense kicked it up a gear. Cheri Palmer started things with four points. Then, sophomore Alison Cheney connected on back-to-back buckets to put WNCC up 13-10.

WNCC continued playing well offensively and defensively as Chelsea Lyles and Dana Iverson connected on a 2-pointers and SeLina Ysac nailed the only 3-pointer of the game for a 19-12 lead. WNCC built the lead to 13 points, 33-20 on back-to-back buckets by Tawny Drexler. WNCC moved the lead to 37-23 at halftime.

The Cougars continued playing strong in the first eight minutes of the second half, building a 59-33 lead and never looked back.

At times, the Cougars looked strong defensively, just like the Cougars of old. Again, though, Harnish said it is consistency that has him perplexed.

“It has been the same story, we don’t have the consistency night in and night out for 40 minutes,” Harnish said. “We go 1 of 11 from the 3-point line tonight and we don’t shoot free throws well. The defense is spotty at times. It is just not all there and we continue to have problems every night in something different.”

Shaquilah Davis led the Cougars with 15 points followed by Iverson with 10 points. Emma Beddome had a near double-double finishing with nine points and eight rebounds.

Pratt was led by Wyneisha Webb with 17 points, including two 3-pointers. Also collecting double-digit scoring was Lindsee Bachicha with 11 points. Chadron graduate Sydney Moore finished the game with four points and two rebounds. Moore was perfect from the free throw line, going 4-for-4.

Eastern Wyoming’s offense was just as potent as the Cougars. The Lancers were hitting on all cylinders, especially in the first half as EWC bolted to a 43-35 halftime lead. Doing most of the damage was post player Kara Bretney, who had eight first-half buckets underneath. Smith also excelled in the first period scoring 10 of her game-high 22 points.

EWC coach Tom Andersen said that the offense was there all night, it was just the lapses on defense that kept Lamar in the game.

“Offensively we did alright,” the first-year Lancer coach said. “We were able to get pretty good shots for the most part. We had a few too many turnovers, but other then that we had good shots. Our defense wasn’t that well, especially in the first half. We tightened it up a little in the second half. They did hit some threes, but we are still learning a lot of things. We have a lot of freshmen out there that have not played a lot.”

EWC shot 40 percent from the field compared to 32 percent for Lamar. One of the big areas that was the difference was free throw shooting, where the Lancer’s Smith was a perfect 10 of 10 from the charity stripe. EWC was 17 of 26 for the game for 65 percent.

Besides Smith with 22, other Lancer’s in double figures included Bretney and Jessica Martinez with 12 points each, and Candace Mitchell with 10. Lamar was led by Enid Sanchez with 15 points, including three 3-pointers, and Alicia Smith with 14 points and four 3-pointers.

Today, the Lancers will take on WNCC in the Thanksgiving Classic at 5 p.m. and Andersen said they will have their hands full.

“They are a quality program and team,” he said. “Hopefully we can take care of the ball and get something out of our offense and our defense can play better then they did tonight. It will be a big challenge for us, but it will be something that we will need to see.”

EWC 43 33 – 76

Lamar 35 31 – 66

EASTERN WYOMING

Kara Bretney 12, Shealyn Wells 1, Cecily Zarate 2, Stacie Folker 9, Jessica Martinez 12, Candace Mitchell 10, Sheila Reece 2, Skye Smith 22, Jaqi Bell 6.

LAMAR COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Kathryn Clouser 7, Enid Sanchez 15, Christina Belone 2, Donni Smith 9, Sara Beshears 11, Alicia Smith 14, Reannon Dunn 1, Artra Griffin 3, Alyssa Gordon 4.

Pratt 23 31 – 54

WNCC 37 42 – 79

PRATT COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Wyneisha Webb 17, Brittany Pencis 1, Sasha Crosby 6, Lindsee Bachicha 9, Elizabeth Friesen 11, Sydney Moore 4, Ashley Scroggins 2, Jen Perkins 4.

WESTERN NEBRASKA C.C.

Cheri Palmer 7, Dana Iverson 10, Emma Beddome 9, SeLina Ysac 5, Shaquilah Davis 15, Alison Cheney 9, Tawny Drexler 7, Jenna Colwell 2, Eli Cosme-Gonzalez 3, Chelsea Lyles 7, Carly Glisan 5.