WNCC women play for regional title against 31-1 Miles City

MILES CITY, Mont. – The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team is one win away from their fifth national tournament appearance in six years after running past Casper College 74-48 in the semi-finals Monday at the women’s Region IX Tournament in Miles City, Mont.

WNCC assistant coach Jennifer Pedersen said the team is excited to be playing for the Region IX title. The Cougars will face 31-1 Miles Community College today at 7 p.m. The contest can be heard on KOZY-101.3 FM and the Internet. Miles was a 75-63 winner over Northeast (Neb.) Community College.

“They are absolutely excited,” Pedersen said. “We are going to get to bed early, get them off their feet. We really need to get off to a quick start early and quiet their crowd down. They had a big crowd both nights they played.”

The Cougars, 29-4, started the contest strong, bolting to an 11-0 lead off a bucket by Jenna Colwell. WNCC continued excelling, leading 13-1 on an Alison Cheney bucket.

“We came out quickly and were playing well leading 13-1. Then we didn’t score for a long time and they hit a couple key buckets and a couple of threes to get back into the game.”

Casper came back and sliced the lead to 16-13 on a Cassandra Suffolk bucket. WNCC picked up the head once again, including five straight points by Chelsea Lyles to lead 24-16 on the way to a 32-24 halftime lead.

WNCC came out and took it to the T-Birds in the second half, going on a 16-3 run to open the period, highlighted by buckets by a variety of players. WNCC never looked back to the win.

“The second half we controlled the boards and that was the key part of the game,” Pedersen said. “We only had 10 boards in the first half and finished with 26. We also ran the offense in the second half. We passed the ball around and had some easy baskets.”

The Cougars placed four players in double figures. Shaquilah Davis and Emma Beddome each 16 points. Beddome had two 3-pointers and four steals on the day, while Davis was a perfect 6-of-6 from the field and had two assists and two rebounds while playing with four fouls most of the game.

Alison Cheney also knotched double figures with 12 points, while Jenna Colwell had 10 points.

Casper had just one player finish with double digits as Dana Seth finished with 10 points.

Pedersen said they will need to put together another excellent game to claim the title against the No. 12-ranked Pioneers. But, she thinks they can do it.

“We need to play under control. They are a well disciplined team in their zone press and we need to work the ball around the paint to get a good shot,” Pedersen said. “I think we are more well-rounded then they are, but they are beatable. They have one good tall player that can score and they have a couple good shooters.”

WNCC 32 42 – 74
Casper 24 24 – 48
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Dana Iverson 4, Emma Beddome 16, Michelle Lighthall 2, SeLina Ysac 2, Shaquilah Davis 16, Alison Cheney 12, Tawny Drexler 3, Jenna Colwell 10, Chelsea Lyles 9.
CASPER
Emily Elliott 8, Dana Seth 10, Sarah Johnson 7, Cassandra Suffolk 4, Valencia Cottom 6, Josie Stewart 8, Juliana Paunovic 5.

Northeast 22 41 – 63
Miles CC 32 43 – 75
NORTHEAST
Raelene Buschow 2, Elisha Foley 12, Alexis Habiger, J. Heller 4, Malread McNally 7, Brittany Reeg 3, Deja Watson 8, Jasmine Lovejoy 21
MILES COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Beata Bak 2, Jenna Bolstad 13, Kristen Brady 10, Sarah McNamee 10, Marta Micula 20, Ashley Oliver 8, Ebony Sweat 12.