WNCC women pick up 20th win of the season

The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team combined for 16 assists and 10 Cougars scored in WNCC’s 76-51 win over McCook Community College in a sub-region contest Tuesday at Cougar Palace.

The Cougars also played strong defensively, something they haven’t done for a while, in holding a scrappy McCook ball club to 22 percent shooting, and 26 percent shooting from beyond the arc. The win was also the Cougar’s 20^th of the year which is their 23^rd straight year of collecting 20 wins in a season.

“We were not selfish at all and we moved the ball really well tonight and that is something we haven’t been doing,” Scottsbluff graduate Madison Keller said. “We are also happy with our defensive effort because we have been letting teams score 70 and 80 points a game, so tonight’s effort was really good for us.”

WNCC’s defense wasn’t that way early as the Indians raced to a 10-4 lead early on. The Cougars then went on a mini run scoring seven straight points including a 4-point play from Bayard’s Amber Kistler.

McCook came back and tied the game at 11 before the Cougars defense really kicked in, holding the Indians scoreless for the next four minutes. In the meantime, WNCC put some distance between them and the Indians, going on a 11-0 run that included buckets by Keller, Shelby Campbell, and Yuki Morimoto. Kistler finished off the run with a driving bucket. WNCC led at halftime 37-26.

In the second half, the Cougars were just as strong defensively, holding McCook to just 25 points. They also put the game out of reach early as they opened with the first three minutes on a 7-0 run as Morimoto launched a trey. They kept playing strong as they went on a 9-0 on seven points from Morimoto to go up by 20 points, 55-35.

The big key for the Cougars was shooting and rebounding. WNCC, which has been in a shooting slump as of late, shot 48 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the 3-point arc. The Cougars also out-rebounded McCook 58-33 as Kistler paced the team with seven boards. The Bayard graduate also finished with 12 points and seven assists

Morimoto paced the Cougars with 17 points while Stormye Everett finished with 15 points. Thais Pinto also had a break out performance, finishing with 10 points and six rebounds.

“We played pretty well,” Keller said. “We have been stressing defense and to run our offense, that is what we were trying to do and I think it worked for us the best.”

WNCC will be back in action Friday when they host Lamar Community College at 7 p.m. at Cougar Palace. Keller said they are getting back to the way they played first semester when they went 13-2.

“It is nice to start this run when it is getting to the end of the season and region ix is coming up,” she said. “We have to step up our defense every possession and offensively we have to run our offense and move the ball around.”

McCook 26 25 – 51

WNCC 37 39 – 76

MCCOOK

Alexa Ward 3, Sierra Guy 1, Ellie Hiester 9, Brittany Bunker 2, Emmalee Fladland 9, Jacqueline Lavato 4, Donnell Betts 5, Skyler Johnson 6, Morgan Spencer 8, Lauren Woods 4

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Amber Kistler 12, Stormye Everett 15, Shelby Campbell 5, Yuki Morimoto 17, Carolina Alves 4, Madison Keller 2, Taylor Puttergill 2, Michelle Glaze 4, Thais Pinto 10, Kelli Culver 5.