COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – Daniel Smith and Scott Bamforth each scored 19 points to help the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team remain unbeaten with a 74-49 win over Miles Community College in the first day of the Air Force Prep Tournament Thursday.
The WNCC women also picked up a win in the same tournament, but their game was a little closer as the Cougars needed overtime to prevail 68-66 over Air Force Prep.
Both teams will be back in action Friday in the tournament. The Cougar men will face Air Force Prep at 5 p.m., while the Cougar women will take on Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa at 2 p.m.
WNCC men’s coach Brian Joyce said his team started slow and then opened up the contest just before half to grab a 43-22 lead. WNCC, ranked No. 17 in the nation in defense, continued that strong defensive effort in getting the 25-point win.
“We started out slow with a lot of fouls called in the game. I thought we stayed aggressive,” he said. “It was actually a six or eight point game right before half and we finished the half really strong. I think we played real physical and they got real frustrated. We kept playing through it and our depth was a big factor.”
Joyce said that his team did have a number of turnovers in the contest.
“We didn’t take care of the ball very well and had a lot of turnovers,” he said. “Once again, we were very unselfish which caused some turnovers. We just have to work through that.”
WNCC was 13 of 20 from the free throw line and connected on three 3-pointers – all from Bamforth.
Besides Bamforth and Smith hitting double digits, Tarell Clark also pitched in 11 points.
While the Cougar men were running away with their third victory of the season, the Cougar women overcome sluggish play to prevail 68-66 in thrilling fashion.
Assistant Coach Jennifer Pedersen said the Cougars went 11 minutes in the second half without scoring a point. Freshman Janae Willis stopped the scoring slump with a bucket with 9:28 to play.
WNCC even trailed by 12 points in the second half before making a comeback, retaking the lead with 1:20 to play. Trailing by one point with 23 seconds to play, Michelle Lighthall gave the Cougars a 2-point lead 2-point lead on an old-fashioned 3-point play. WNCC held strong on defense late with a strong defensive effort. But, with 2.5 seconds to play, Air Force Prep got a turnover with 2.5 seconds to play to force overtime.
In the overtime period, Rachael Ragland scored what proved to be the winning basket to push the Cougars to 3-1 on the season.
Pedersen said the key during the Cougars second half run was settling down and playing their game.
“We actually started to run our offense and got some good looks at the basket,” she said. “Defensively we were better as well. Tawny [Drexler] got two straight steals and Caley Fisher hit a 3-pointer and then had a layup to start the comeback.”
WNCC had four players in double figures. Fisher paced the team with 17 points, including 4 of 6 from the 3-point arc. Fisher also finished with four assists.
Lorena Medairos tallied 13 points, while Lighthall and Ragland each had 10 points. Storyme Everett led the team with eight steals, while Lighthall had seven rebounds.
Men’s Game
WNCC (3-0) 43 31 – 74
Miles C.C. 22 27 – 49
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Lloyd Hickinson 2, Tarell Clark 11, Daniel Smith 19, Chris Hamblin 5, Scott Bamforth 19, Francisco Cruz 6, Sedrick McBounds 6, Larry Brown 4, Ali Djim 2.
Women’s Game
WNCC (3-1) 31 28 9 -- 68
Air Force Prep 26 33 7 -- 66
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Tanisha Gilmore 2, Lorena Medairos 13, Michelle Lighthall 10, Shaquilah Davis 2, Stormye Everett 7, Janae Willis 2, Rachael Ragland 10, Caley Fisher 17, Juliana Bassetto 4.
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