The Cougars not only dominated the court with a smothering defense, they also dominated the Lancers on the boards, out-rebounding EWC 68-37. It was a kind of win that WNCC coach Dave Harnish wanted to see from his team with only seven regular season games left.
“I was pleased, after the NJC loss, I thought we did a good job down at Northeast Nebraska to get a win and tonight our mental focus and our awareness on the floor was a lot better,” he said. “We needed to do that tonight and I thought we were solid all night long. We didn’t shoot the ball as well as I liked, but I thought we executed.”
What did it for the Cougars was an early 11-0 run over a two minute span that opened up a 4-4 game with 15 minutes to play to a commanding 15-4 lead with 13 minutes to play. And it was Scottsbluff graduate SeLina Ysac and Jenna Colwell that ignited the run.
Ysac recorded four points off a steal and then later off an offensive rebound. Colwell did the same, collecting four points.
EWC coach Tom Andersen said his team couldn’t handle the Cougars pressure.
“We hung with them for a little bit and then they went on that run and got ahead of us,” he said. “We then just didn’t respond well to their pressure defense. We obviously got annihilated on the boards both halves. They just beat us defensively and on the boards.”
Harnish said for some reason his team plays better in a pressure situation.
“We don’t play well when we are not pressing for some reason. We opened up in a half-court man-to-man and it seemed like we didn’t have any energy,” he said. “We then went into a full-court press and it seemed to pick us up offensively and defensively. We just seemed to play better that way. Anytime we back off, it seems like we struggle with our energy level.”
EWC’s Jessica Martinez buried a 3-pointer to stop the 11-0, but it was only temporarily as the Cougars as they opened up a 20-9 lead on a Cheri Palmer bucket. The Cougars continued hitting on all cylinders as Tawny Drexler made back-to-back buckets for a 30-13 lead and then Emma Beddome nailed four straight points to end the half with the Cougars up 38-17.
The Cougars continued their strong defense in the first 10 minutes of the second half, holding the Lancers to just three points as WNCC raced to a 60-20 lead. Ysac and Carly Glisan each canned 3-pointers in the 22-3 run.
After that, both teams played even as all the Cougar players scored in the game. Ysac led the way with 12 points, including two 3-pointers and nine rebounds. Beddome also finished with 11 points and six rebounds.
Skye Smith, who made the winning bucket Saturday night against
Andersen said it is disappointing in how his team played after the big 72-71 win Saturday night.
“We played well Saturday night and shot and rebounded well. Tonight, we shot poorly,” he said. “You have to give WNCC’s defense credit for that. We didn’t get a lot of good looks and we had three, four or five shot clock violations. We just didn’t respond to their pressure and their size.”
EWC (5-14) 17 21 – 38
WNCC (19-4) 38 45 – 83
Kera Bretney 7, Shealyn Wells 4, Jessica Martinez 7, Candace Mitchell 2, Skye Smith 13, Jaqi Bell 5.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Cheri Palmer 9, Dana Iverson 3, Emma Beddome 11, Michelle Lighthall 6, SeLina Ysac 12, Shaquilah Davis 9, Alison Cheney 4, Tawny Drexler 7, Jenna Colwell 5, Eli Cosme-Gonzalez 5, Chelsea Lyles 5, Carly Glisan 7.
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