The women’s team knew they had to win by 15 points against the Hawks. Early in the second half, Northeast held a 19-point, 45-26 lead. That didn’t matter as the Cougars came storming back to capture a 17-point, 74-57 victory.
The WNCC women now need to win by 15 points Saturday night against McCook Community College to force a tie with Northeast. Tip-off for the games is slated for 5:30 p.m. If the Cougars win by 15, then the results of the coin toss that was conducted later Friday night, will be revealed to see who hosts next month’s Region IX Tournament.
While the women still have hopes of hosting the regional tournament, the Cougar men wrapped up the No. 1 seed from the East Sub-Region with a 62-54 win over Northeast. The win keeps the Cougars unbeaten in sub-region play at 4-0 as well as winners of 19 of their last 22 games. With the No. 1 seed, the Cougars now they will face the North No. 4 seed, which is Dawson Community College, in next month’s regional tournament.
The women’s contest, however, was the more intense contest as the Cougars dug deep to not only get the win, but win by 15 points. WNCC coach Dave Harnish said his team buckled down on defense in the second half and got the job done, something that made Harnish smile after the game.
“It was such a big hole, being down by 19, and we were just playing to get better for the regional tournament and not thinking about the score,” he said. “What transpired the last 15 minutes of the game is huge. The girls have to be proud and they are very excited. It at least puts us in a tie with them and it will come down to a coin flip if we win by 15 against McCook.”
The Cougar women could have packed their bags and folded, but they didn’t. Harnish is proud of that fact because they stepped up their defense enormously.
“The first half looked a lot like when we played down there [a 60-33 loss]. We didn’t shoot the ball very well and we certainly didn’t defend very well and gave 20 points to [Jasmine] Lovejoy in the first half,” he said. “At halftime we talked about being more solid. The big thing second half is we made some shots and that encouraged us and got us going and we defended well. It was certainly a great half and a great effort to be down by 19 and win by 17. It was a huge comeback.”
Shaquilah Davis was a huge reason the Cougars made the unbelievable comeback, scoring a game-high 26 points, 22 points in the second half. The other key was holding one of the region’s top scorers, Lovejoy, in check in the second half. Lovejoy went off for 20 of the Hawk’s 35 first half points. In the second half, Lovejoy nailed a 3-pointer less than two minutes in the second period and then was held scoreless the rest of the way.
“We have been doing that, playing good defense, the last couple of weeks. It was a little uncharacteristic of us not to play that way. It was a big game and maybe they were a little bit nervous, but in the second half we were relaxed and played the way we have been playing the last couple of weeks.”
After Northeast took the 45-26 lead, the Cougars went on an 22-4 run that was led by Davis scoring 10 points, Amber Kistler getting four points, Lorena Medeiros scoring five points, including a clutch 3-pointer, and SeLina Ysac starting the run with a trey.
WNCC finally tied the game at 51-51 on a Davis 3-pointer with 8:52 to play. Davis gave the Cougars their first lead of the game with other 3-pointer with six minutes to play at 56-54. WNCC kept playing strong defense, holding the Hawk’s defense to just three points in the final six minutes.
In the meantime, the Cougars knew they needed to win by 15 points, and they finally led by 15 points with 29.6 seconds to play on one of two Stormye Everett’s free throws. WNCC added to the lead as Amber Kistler nailed two technical foul shots to put the Cougars up 71-54.
Northeast came right down the court and Elisha Foley drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 14.7 seconds to play. It was the first points for the Hawks in over six minutes of action. WNCC’s Kistler, Everett and Caley Fisher nailed clutch free throws to preserve the 15-point win.
Davis was just one of three Cougars in double figures, finishing with 26 points, three 3-pointers and 9 of 13 from the free throw line. Kisterl finished with 12 points, while Everet had 10 points. Tawny Drexler led the team in rebounding with nine boards as the Cougars out-rebounded the No. 22 team in the nation 46-43.
The Cougar men also put three players in double figures. Scott Bamforth finished with 18 points, including four 3-pointers, followed by Francisco Cruz with 12 points and Sedrick McBounds with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
The men’s contest was tight for another reason besides a team trying to win by 15 points. This one was for a victory. The Hawks battled the Cougars from start to finish. WNCC led 28-27 at halftime, but watched Northeast come out of the locker room, grabbing a 33-28 lead. WNCC fought their way back, tying the game at 33-33 on a McBounds trey, and then taking the lead at 35-33 on a Chris Hamblin dunk.
The Cougars widened the lead to seven points, 52-45, on a Bamforth 3-pointer. Northeast would quit, slicing the lead to one point, 53-52 on a ChaMar Wilson 3-pointer with 5:40 to play. The Cougars defense buckled down, holding Northeast to just two points the rest of the game – the points came with 14.8 seconds to play by Thomas Colbert.
The big reason for the Cougar’s win was rebounding. WNCC out-rebounded the Hawks 56-36. That was something that pleased WNCC head coach Brian Joyce.
“We wrote two things on the board in the locker room, keep them out of the paint and limit second shots. That was our goal to out-rebound them,” he said. “The 22 offensive rebounds tells for one that we didn’t shoot very well [only 30 percent from the field].
“I thought they [Northeast] did a good job here controlling the tempo, especially on the road. I thought our guys made some plays in the second half to give ourselves a little bit of a cushion and then finish the game.”
Both teams will be back at Cougar Palace tonight when they host McCook Community College in sub-region contests. The women’s contest tips off at 5:30 p.m. followed by the men’s. It will be the men’s second to last home game of the season.
Women’s Game
Northeast (24-6) 35 22 – 57
WNCC (21-6) 25 49 – 74
NORTHEAST
Stephanie Robinson 5, Jasmine Lovejoy 23, Elisha Foley 9, Whitley Smiley 4, Raelene Buschow 2, Chaundera Riley 14.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Amber Kistler 12, Lorena Medeiros 5, SeLina Ysac 9, Shaquilah Davis 26, Stormye Everett 10, Janae Willis 8, Tawny Drexler 3, Caley Fisher 1.
Men’s Game
Northeast (15-15) 27 27 – 54
WNCC (22-5) 28 34 – 62
NORTHEAST
DeAndre Jones 12, ChaMar Wilson 8, David Taylor 4, Seth Wendt 8, Andrew Lyle 5, Rashad Allison 5, Julio Rodrigues 8.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Tarell Clark 5, Chris Hamblin 7, Scott Bamforth 18, Francisco Cruz 12, Sedrick McBounds 10, Larry Brown 8, John Bright 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment