WNCC finishes season 8th at national tournament

SALINA, Kan. -- The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball season finally came to a close and it wasn’t the way the team was hoping.

The Cougars, who were looking to finish the season off with a win, fell 66-46 in the consolation finals to Shelton State College out of Tuscaloosa, Ala. WNCC finishes the season at 32-6.

“It is always disappointing to end the year on a loss,” WNCC coach Dave Harnish said. “That is something we talked about that we never ended the year on a win. That is what we tried to do today and unfortunately we didn’t come out the first half and play.”

In fact, the first half told the story for the Cougars. After Emma Beddome scored the opening bucket, the Buccaneers raced to a 9-2 lead before WNCC got on the scoreboard again on a 3-pointer with 15 minutes to play.

A few minutes later, Shelton State had the lead built to double digits at 19-8 and led 23-8 after going on a 12-3 run with under 10 minutes to play in the half.

Hanrish said they way the team played in the first half was uncharacteristic of how his team played at the national tournament or the last two months of the season.

“Unfortunately the first half was more like the first semester for us, where we were very selfish offensively and it the game basically revolved around our defense. And, we just couldn’t stop the ball,” he said. “It was unfortunate we had that happen to get down by 20 in the first half. I thought we did a better job in the second half where we competed and kept battling and playing the way we did most of the tournament.”

Shelton State held a 41-21 lead at intermission hung with the Buccaneers in the second half. The Cougars tried to make runs against Shelton State as they went on a 9-2 run, capped by a SeLina Ysac offensive putback and a Carly Glisan 3-pointer to cut the lead to 53-32.

But it was too hard for the Cougars to make a dent in the 20-point lead the Buccaneers built in the first half to make the came closer.

The big difference in the game was the Cougars inability to keep control of the ball. The Cougars committed 29 turnovers compared to just 18 turnovers. Shelton State scored 24 of their points off of Cougar miscues.

WNCC did out-rebound Shelton State 36-29, as Lyles and Ysac each had five rebounds, followed by Dana Iverson and Shaquilah Davis with four each.

Lyles paced the Cougars with 10 points, including two 3-pointers, while Jenna Colwell finished with nine points.

Shelton State had three players in double figures, led by Marguisha Loper with 29 points, including five 3-pointers. Ayla Guzzardo and Damisha Lyles finished with 15 and 12 points respectively.

Even with the season-ending loss, Harnish was proud of how this team fought hard to earn a berth at the national tournament, reeling off 28 wins in the team’s last 31 games since starting the season 4-3.

“Making it to the national tournament is huge with any teams. We had some better teams that hace come down here and didn’t win two games,” he said. “To come down here and finish eighth in the nation, especially from starting out the year 4-3, is a huge accomplishment. Much of the credit goes to the kids for the hard work they put in. This is some thing they will remember for the rest of their lives. I am proud of what they did this year and proud of how they played in the tournament.

The Cougars lose five sophomores off of the 32-6 team -- Lyles, Beddome, Iverson, Alison Cheney and Carly Glisan -- and Harnish said much of the success of this year’s team lies with their goal of wanting to get the Cougars back to the national tournament.

“The sophomores really combined together the second half of the season and really wanted to win the regional championship and come to the national tournament,” he said. “They got focused and did every thing they needed to do. All the credit has to go with the sophomores with their attitude and what hey wanted to accomplish this year. I am certainly proud of all five sophomroes and wish them the best of luck.”

Now, Harnish’s attention turns to recruiting and they are some holes they need to fill to be competitive at the national level. One area, he said, is finding some big post players.

“Down here, if you don’t have the height to rebound, you will have trouble,” he said. “That was the biggest fault we had all week is rebounding. We need to find some bigger kids. But, I think we have a good group coming back with kids that compete and play hard. We are certainly looking forward to next year.”

Shelton State (31-5) 41 25 -- 66
WNCC (32-6) 21 24 45
SHELTON STATE
Margaret Bell 6, Caroline Powell 6, Darnisha lyles 12, Lauren Tucker 3, Ayla Guzzardo 15, Marquisha Loper 19, China Antoine 4, Joi Walker 1.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Emma Beddome 5, Jenna Colwell 9, Chelsea Lyles 10, Alison Cheney 4, Dana Iverson 2, SeLina Ysac 5, Shaquilah Davis 4, Michelle Lighthall 3, Carly Glisan 3.