Three WNCC softball players sign with Friends University

                Gering graduates Madison Spencer and Kayla Romey have always dreamed about playing four-year softball. Now, they get the chance after signing letter of intents with Friends University in Wichita, Kan., on Saturday.

                The two Western Nebraska Community College teammates, along with Cougar sophomore Melanie Rowson of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, all signed with Friends University, a NAIA institution, and are thankful to get there future college out of the way before they start practicing for their season next month.

                In fact, all three Cougar players have taken different turns to get to this point. Romey and Rowson were members of the Cougar team last year. Spencer played last season at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colo., before electing to play this year, her sophomore year, at WNCC.

                Romey saw action last season as a freshman for the defending Region IX champions primarily as a pinch runner. This season, Romey will see action in the outfield. She said she selected Friends University because the program resembles the one at WNCC.

                “I was actually looking at Chadron first because it was so close to home and I was afraid of moving away, but then the Friends’ coach contacted me,” she said. “We went and saw the campus and I really enjoyed it. Their academic programs are very good of what I want to go into [graphic design]. Their coach is a lot like Coach Winn. I like how the program is structured and it will be a nice transition.”

                Romey credits a lot of her success to WNCC softball coach Maria Winn-Ratliff.

                “She has done a lot for me. She doesn’t just help you with softball, she helps you with life in general,” Romey said. “She teaches you to be a good person in every aspect of life. She puts challenges your way that teaches you to overcome those challenges and I believe that will help me in the future. She has prepared me for a four-year college in the fact she has taught me time-management and organizational skills that I am sure I will need when I am not here and close to family when they can help  me. I feel she has done a lot to impact my life.”

Romey batted .317 as a pinch hitter. Her main goal last year was that of a pinch runner because of her speed. Romey stole eight bases and scoring 16 runs a season ago.

Spencer enters her first year as a Cougars after spending last year as the starting catcher at Northeastern Junior College. The Plainswomen were in their first year and failed to win a game. Spencer, however, was one of the team’s top hitters.

Upon transferring to WNCC, Spencer will see a shift from her usual catcher spot, a position she has played all through her career, to an outfielder. Spencer said that she would not have received this opportunity of going to Friends if she wouldn’t have transferred.

                “I decided to go there because it is a lot like here and they have high expectations,” Spencer said. “I am excited for the challenge and it will be interesting. Throughout my softball career I have always caught but this year I am playing outfield and I can say that if I wouldn’t have come to WNCC, I wouldn’t be getting this opportunity know.”

                Spencer said she selected Friends because she is originally from Kansas and has relatives from the state. And, when she attends Friends, she will either be playing the outfield or be behind the plate. Whatever the case, she will be ready.

                Spencer said she has become a better player over the past couple years.

“It is not so much that I have improved, it is that I have become a better well-rounded player,” Spencer said. “I learned not to take things for granted and since coming to WNCC, I am getting a chance to play softball and thanks to my teammates helping me, I think I am better well-rounded.”

Spencer said being a part of the Cougar softball program is one of her life-long dreams.

“I love coming back to WNCC to play,” she said. “When I was in school and coming to their hitting camps, [the girls] always wanted to be in the program. It is actually nice to be a Cougar now and knowing that so many kids look up to you and wanting to be just like you. That is amazing.”

                 Rowson, who redshirted last season after undergoing shoulder surgery, is anxious to get back on the field and start playing again.

                “I am very, very ready to get back on the field,” the outfielder from Canada said. “The season is coming close and I am very excited for it. I can’t wait to get out there again.

                Rowson said it was easy to pick Friends not only because of the softball tradition of the NAIA school, but the fact that she will be going there with two teammates.

                “I visited both schools back to back and after going to Friends, it just felt right,” Rowson said. “It felt like home when I went there. The program is a lot like Coach Winn’s program where it is structured. I feel like I fit well here [at WNCC] so I thought it would be a great fit for me there as well.”

                All three are excited that they are going to the same college. Romey is looking forward to playing with Spencer and Rowson another two years.

                “I have met a new friend Canada and I have been with Maddie since high school so that will be a good transition as well going with friends,” Romey said.

Rowson said they can bring a lot to the table at Friends.

“Team chemistry is always a key component of doing well on the field and off the field,” Rowson said. “I think all three of us, being so close, we can bring that to Friends and the chemistry at Friends will be the same.”

WNCC women drop Colorado Christian junior varsity

                LAKEWOOD, Colo. – Kelsey Doddridge and Mauriissa Ortega combined for 35 points and the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team put behind them the events that unfolded this weekend in running past Colorado Christian University junior varsity 71-53 on Tuesday night.

                Doddridge and Ortega each popped in three 3-pointers on their way to an outstanding night. Doddredige finished with a game-high 18 points while Ortega finished with 16 points.

                “This was a good win for us,” WNCC coach Dave Harnish said. “It was the last game of the semester and what the team has gone through the last few days. It was a good win to finish off the semester and go into break.”

                Harnish said the team played well, especially in the second half and had a 30-point lead late to finish the first semester.

                “The first half we struggled a little bit. We were only up by 13 at halftime. In the second half we came out and played really well,” he said. “We got the lead up to a 30-point lead and then didn’t finish real strong the last four or five minutes of the game.

                The No.6 ranked Cougars, who were playing without a number of starters in the game, flexed their depth in the contest. Ashley Stevens and Mikayla Brower finished with nine points each behind Doddridge’s and Ortega’s double-figure night. Brower netted also made a 3-pointer as the Cougars buried seven on the night.

                Harnish said this team has plenty of depth and scoring power.

                “This was a good night to play everybody. Everybody got to play that suited up and they did a decent job,” he said. “This is a good way to finish off the semester.”

                The Cougars will be off until Jan. 7 when they travel to Goodland, Kan., to take on Northwest Kansas Technical College. After that, they will face Lamar Community College on the road to open sub-region play.

Harnish said with the way they are playing he really don’t want to take that four-week break of non-playing.

“This is a bad time for us to have a break,” he said. “We are playing so well and you really don’t want to stop; you want to keep playing while the team is playing well for pretty much the whole semester. You are always scared with the 3-week break what they are going to come back like. Hopefully we can pick up where we left off. It would be nice to keep on going and not stop. With the win tonight, they will have a positive attitude, work hard over break, and come back and start up where we ended.”

WNCC                   32 39 – 71

CCUJV                   19 34 – 53

WNCC

Simone Evans 5, Kelsey Doddridge 18, Ashley Stevens 9, Laurin Rivera 5, Mikayla Brower 9, Katie Kerkhoff 4, Michelle Brassard 5, Maurissa Ortega 16.

Ryder pours in 26 points in win against Air Force Prep

                 [12-8-2012] Gritt Ryder poured in 26 points and the 6^th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College basketball team remained unbeaten with a 92-44 win over Air Force Prep in the final day of the Lady Cougar Holiday Classic Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.

                The 90-point explosion was also the Cougars fifth straight game scoring 90 or more points. In Saturday’s win the Cougars placed four players in double figures and shot 47 percent from the field.

                Behind Ryder’s 26 points was Shalisa Moffit with 16 points, Laurin Rivera with 14 points, and Ashley Stevens with 10 points.

                Brower, who scored just two points but put down a team-leading six rebounds, said it is nice running the offense from her point guard position with an offense like they have.

                “Our offense is great because depending on what day, we can do many things. Depending on what the defense does, we can change our offense.

                Defensively, the Cougars put together another stellar offense. The Cougars have held their opponents to under 50 points for the 13^th time in 14 games played. Brower said they pride themselves on their defense.

                “Playing tight defense is what we like,” she said. “We like to play up-in-your-face defense and give it all you got when in the game. When we are in there, we just play as hard as we can on defense. That will then transfer to what we do on offense.”

                Overall, Brower said this team plays hard on both offense and defense and a key for the Cougars in not only Saturday’s win but their other 13 wins is playing as a team.

                “It feels good to be 14-0 but we still have to stay focused and not let that get to our heads,” said.

                They definitely played a solid game once again as nine players finished in the scoring column and the bench scored 38 points. The Cougars also had 26 points in the paint. WNCC also dished out 16 assists, led by Moffit and Rivera with four each and those assists led the team to connect on eight 3-pointers.

                Four of the team’s eight 3-pointers came from Ryder, who was 4 of 6 from beyond the arc. Rivera pitched in three treys, while Maurissa Ortega had the other bomb.

                The Cougars started early once again, running out to a 12-0 lead and pushed it to 28-3 on a Ashley Stevens old-fashioned three-point play. WNCC continued paying strong in racing to a 44-16 halftime lead.

                The second half was all WNCC. The Cougars went up 55-20 after back-to-back 3-pointers by Ryder. Then, leading 66-31, the Cougars went on a 11-0 run that included Ortega’s trey for a 77-31 lead and they cruised to the 92-44 win.

                Brower said this team has grown leaps and bounds from the beginning of the year.

                “I would say this team has improved a lot and I would say I have. Since the first day of practice I feel more comfortable.

                The Torrington High graduate added that the college game is so much faster than the high school game.

                “This is a lot faster than my high school but I feel like we all are doing good and we are just working hard,” she said. “

                WNCC will wrap up the first semester on Tuesday when they travel to Longmont, Colo., to face the Colorado Christian University junior varsity before taking a three-week break for Christmas. WNCC will then return to action Jan. 7 when they face Northwest Kansas Technical College at Goodland, Kan.

                Brower said they have to play well to finish off the first semester unbeaten.

                “We just need to keep focused and play like we are right now,” Brower said. “We have to keep on this roll. Like Coach Harnish always says, remember where we came from, how we got here through hard work and everything, so we just have to keep that up.”

Air Force Prep                   16 38 – 44

WNCC (14-0)                      44 48 – 92

AIR FORCE PREP

Myah Jackson 5, Taylor Ashley Shaw 7, Callie Brown 2, Mo Hall 11, Yasmine Ebanks 6, Angela Goodman 2, Dee Mullins 8, Ashley Lundun 3.

WNCC

Mikayla Brower 2, Laurin Rivera 14, Kelsey Doddridge 1, Gritt Ryder 26, Shalisa Moffit 16, Katie Kerkhoff 3, Simone Evans 2, Ashley Stevens 10, Jessica Aratani 9.

WNCC men win overtime thriller over Northwest Kansas Technical

               [12-7-2012]  Cody Johnson finished with a double-double of 25 points and 18 rebounds, but it was his blocked shot with a second to play in regulation that helped the Cougars come back to drop Northwest Kansas Technical College 96-85 in overtime on Friday at Cougar Palace.

                Johnson’s block came seconds after Willie Mangum connected on three free throws to tie the game at 76-76 with 9.2 seconds to play in regulation. It was then Johnson that blocked a shot by Northwest Kansas’ Gian Clavell to send the game into overtime.

                In the extra period, the Cougars energy was enlivened by an enthusiastic crowd in outscoring the Mavericks 20-9 for the Cougars to even the Cougars’ record at 5-5.

                WNCC coach Russ Beck said that his team won a dog fight and persevered when they had to.

                “We will take it any way we can get it right know. Sometimes you just have to gut it out and find a way to win despite the circumstances,” Beck said. “I told the guys that that team was very, very scrappy and they are well coached and they have some talented players. I am happy with the win. We really turned it up in overtime. We had a very clutch play in terms of us talking about it in the huddle during a time out where they were really jumping to block shots. Willie got his guy in the air and picked up the foul, which was huge with under 10 seconds to play. That is a tough situation to be in to step to the free throw line and knock down three that you absolutely need. Then we come down and got a block and forced a miss to get to overtime. In overtime, we outscored them 20-9 and we really got pumped up.”

                The game was an epic battle between two talented teams. WNCC started the contest on a tear, jumping to a 13-3 and later a 19-6 lead behind five 3-pointers, including a game-opening trey from Rich Williams and two from Mangum. Northwest Kansas came back to cut the deficit to 25-21 only watch the Cougars outscore the Mavericks 16-8 on 3-pointers by Charles Ward and Zach Clemens for a 41-32 halftime lead.

                In the second half, the Cougars built a 50-39 lead before Northwest scored eight straight to cut the deficit to 50-47. WNCC, once again, pushed the lead back to near double digits on a couple occasions. Northwest never gave up and finally tied the contest at 59-59 with 6:25 to play. Moments later, the Mavericks took their first lead of the game at 62-61 on a bucket by Talan Whitaker.

                Northwest seemed in control, leading 74-69 with under a minute to play. That was when WNCC refueled its energy. Ward hit a jumper to cut the lead to 74-71. After a missed free throw, Johnson nailed two free throws with 20.1 seconds to play. Clavell then put the Mavericks up 76-73 with 16.8 seconds to play. Mangum then came down and was fouled putting up a 3-pointer with 9.2 seconds to tie the game.

                The overtime period saw the Cougars go on an 8-0 run to go up 86-78 on two buckets by Youssoupha Kane. Northwest cut the lead to 86-82 with 2:00 minutes to play before WNCC scored the final nine points for the win.

                The Cougars had four players finish in double figures. Johnson had the big night with is 25 points, but Mangum and Ward gave off the bench to chip in 20 points each. Rich Williams also came up big, scoring 11 points from his starting position.

                Beck said that Johnson had a big game.

                “Cody had a really big double-double with 25 points and 18 rebounds,” he said. “He also had that huge block, but the most critical thing was his 8 of 8 from the free throw line. When you can get that from one of your big men, you are in business.”

                The big difference in the game, however, was shooting. Northwest was 34 percent from the field but were just 29 percent from behind the arc (13 of 44). The Cougars show 49 percent in the first half and then were just 29 percent in the second half. But, in the extra period, the Cougars were hitting 62 percent of their shots for the win.

                WNCC, 5-5, will wrap up the first semester next weekend when they compete in the Northwest Wyoming tournament in Powell, Wyo. Beck said he wants his team to finish the season on a high note and then head into second semester with some momentum.

                “We just want to finish this semester on a high note because as we look around the league, there are a lot of teams that have nice records like 10-2, 9-1, and 8-2 but they have played six or seven jayvee teams,” he said. “We have played three out of the last four national champions and everybody that we have played in November has been ranked last year. We feel like we are battle tested, been in some situations with some tough teams, we lost some and we won some, but we hope down the stretch as we improve that this team has a chance to compete for a championship because of the schedule that we have played.”

NW Kansas                         31 45 9 – 85

WNCC (5-5)                        42 34 20 – 96

NORTHWEST KANSAS

Kayman Garrett 3, Gian Clavell 26, Talan Whitaker 10, Juan Ortiz 3, Markees Walker 25, Marcus Walden 3, Nicholas Riley 7, Lamar Burton 2, Jeffrey Burgos 6.

WNCC

Zach Clemens 3, Quante Cooley 4, Rich Williams 11, Willie Mangum 20, Trey Moore 2, Isaiah Castellaw 2, Charles Ward 20, Cody Johnson 25, Youssoupha Kane 3, Chad Calcaterra 4.