WNCC women open Region IX tournament with win over Little Big Horn College

STERLING, Colo. – If the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team played every game like they did the first five minutes of their Region IX tournament opener against Little Big Horn College Friday afternoon at Sterling, Colo., they would be unbeaten on the season.

The Cougars used an 11-0 to start the game and then cruised to an easy 79-52 win over the Rams in the Cougars’ tournament opener.

Stormye Everett paced the Cougar attack with 23 points, followed by Bayard’s Amber Kistler with 17. Kistler also had two 3-pointers and four assists in the Cougar’s 24^th win of the season.

“We came out really strong in the beginning and then our defense kind of got sloppy, and then we ended up coming back in the second half,” Kistler said. “There really is no reason that they should have scored 50, but a win is a win and in the end we at least get to move on. We beat them by 29, almost 30 points, so it helps with our confidence. We know we can score and we know we have a really good chance at winning this if we just play Cougar basketball.”

As well as the Cougars started the game, they also did have moments of non-brilliance. All five starters put in a bucket to open the contest to lead 11-2 before Little Big Horn scored their first bucket about five minutes into the game. WNCC pushed the lead to 20-3 on five points by Kelli Culver, including a 3-pointer.

The Cougars pushed the lead to 26-7 before the rams went on a 12-2 run to slice the lead to single digits, 26-19. WNCC quickly put a halt to the Rams’ run as Yuki Morimoto nailed a bucket followed by back-to-back field goals by Everett. Kistler then connected on 3-pointer and then scored on a lay up with a minute to play to help WNCC to a 39-24 halftime lead.

Kistler said it was the teams start that helped them assert themselves in the opening-round game.

“In the first five minutes of the game, we just went hard,” she said. “We rebounded the ball, we ran the break, we made good passes, and we were really clean. We need to play that kind of basketball the whole time. “

The second half was all WNCC as the Cougars opened the half on a 21-6 run as Everett had 11 points.

WNCC blistered the nets for 54 percent shooting compared to 28 for Little Big Horn. The Cougars also out-rebounded the Rams 49-22 led by Everett with six. Kistler, Shelby Campbell, Thais Pinto and Kelli Culver all had five boards.

Besides Everett and Kistler hitting the double-digit scoring column, Morimot and Carolina Alves also chipped in 10 points each.

Kistler says the competition only gets tougher. The Cougars will next play Sunday at 3 p.m. against the winner of the Western Wyoming and Otero Junior College contest that will be played Sunday.

“The combination does get harder. The rides and the games take a toll on your body, but we just need to go hard like we did the first few minutes,” she said. “But, we get to rest a whole day, get our feet up, rest and we don’t have to travel.”

"We know we can play with any team as long as we play our game. We have come a long way from those losses [Against Otero and Eastern Wyoming]. I think we actually needed those losses to make us realize how hard we need to play to advance in this tournament.”

Little Big Horn 24 28 – 52

WNCC (24-7 39 40 – 79

LITTLE BIG HORN

Tanell Poitier 2, Tracy Lewis 11, Loretta Brown 13, Tiffany Eildgoose 4, Monique Iron Shell 8, Charla takes Enemy9, Coty Harris 2, Lawissa Natan 3.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Amber Kistler 17; Stormye Everett 23, Shelby Campbell 1, Yuki Morimoto 10, Tiffany Moorer 6, Carolina Alves 10, Thais Pinto 4, Kelli Culver 8.