Torrington's Brower, Bridgeport's Stevens ink with WNCC women's basketball

 

               Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball coach Dave Harnish added two local standouts to his squad Monday when Bridgeport’s Ashley Stevens and Torrington’s Mikayla Brower signed letters of intent to play for the Cougars.

               Harnish is excited with the addition of both players, who each enjoyed plenty of success throughout their prep careers at their respective schools.

               “I always feel honored when local kids want to come here. They are the hardest kids to recruit because they always want to get away,” Harnish said. “I feel fortunate to keep them here and it is great for the community and great for the school. I think what these two ladies bring, more so than basketball, is they are going to bring great credit to our program. They both come from winning programs with great coaching. The character they bring in here is something we are looking forward to having in the classroom and on the basketball floor. I couldn’t be happier with both of them.”

               The pair will join another local player in Morrill’s Jessica Aratani, who will be in her sophomore season next year.

               For Brower, WNCC was a pretty easy choice.

               “I chose WNCC because it is close and the program is good,” she said. “I like Coach Harnish and Coach T [Ipek Turkyilmaz]. They made me feel welcome and I am excited to come here. I had a few other choices and I had to make a decision, but it was a pretty strong thought to go here all the way.”
               Brower averaged 20 points, eight assists and five steals per contest for the Trailblazers during her senior season. The 5-foot-7 guard is also a force in the net for the Torrington girls soccer team this spring. She also finished in the top four at the Wyoming state tennis tournament last fall.
               “Basketball has been my first sport throughout,” she said. “The other ones are just secondary sports for the fun of it.”
               Brower helped lead Torrington to this year’s state basketball tournament. As a senior, she was named to the Wyoming 3A all-state team.
               “The run we had in basketball at Torrington has been fun,” she said. “There are a lot of people that you have to thank for that like our coach [Jeff Halley], the people who support us and my teammates. Basketball is most definitely a team sport and everybody contributed to get where we got to every year.”
               Brower said Halley taught her a lot and she is hoping to display that talent on the hardwood for future years.
               “Let’s hope I am ready for this next step. I will work hard to ensure I get there,” she said.
               For Stevens, her college decision proved difficult as she excelled in both basketball and volleyball at Bridgeport. But she decided on her first love of basketball.
               “I had more interests in basketball, so I decided to go for that,” she said. “Halfway through my decision making, I started to gain an interest in volleyball and I had to think about that. But I ended up choosing basketball because I like it better.”
               Stevens, whose parents Tim and Michelle both played college sports, said her top goal since a young age was to play volleyball at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. That changed after her senior year in volleyball. And when Harnish showed an interest, and the fact that WNCC is just 35 minutes from her hometown, her interest to play for the Cougars peaked even more.
               “When I was little, I always wanted to play volleyball for UNL,” she said. “But I decided after volleyball season this year that I wanted to play basketball instead of volleyball. I chose here because it is close to home and they have a good program. I heard they have 20 wins every year throughout Coach Harnish’s career, so that is exciting. They have a good program and hopefully I can help keep the winning tradition going.”
               Stevens, who was named to the Class C-1 all-state honorable mention list this season and was a Star-Herald All-Region First Team member in basketball and volleyball, averaged a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds per game for Bridgeport this season. She also set new school records for most rebounds and most made free throws in a career.
               Stevens said the hardest part of moving to the next level will be missing her teammates and hometown fans.
               “I am going to miss all my teammates and I am going to miss the crowd at the games,” she said. “It became very exciting to play in Bridgeport and hear the fans in the stands. I just want to thank everyone that has watched me come up through the years and supported me. It will be nice to see the fans come and support me after high school.”