WNCC women pick up third win

                COLBY, Kan. – The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team put three players in double figures in posting their third victory of the season after dropping Colorado Northwestern Community College 58-41 in the second day of the Ambassador Classic in Colby, Kan.

                Jess Samorodova paced all scorers with 14 points followed by Idil Ozbayrak with 12 points and Gritt Ryder with 10 points.

                WNCC head coach Dave Harnish said they once again played pretty good first-half defense, but they still have to improve their shooting.

                “Defensively, I thought we were strong all game, holding then to 22 points in the first half, and I think the defense was pretty solid,” Harnish said. “We played well and caused 36 turnovers. What we aren’t doing is capitalizing the turnovers into points. We are still struggling in that part. We also had 22 turnovers.”

                The Cougars held a slim 27-22 halftime lead and then came out in the second half and played strong defense, holding the Spartans to just 19 points.

                The Cougars had a balanced scoring attack in the game. After the three double figure scorers, Jessica Aratani and Shalisa Moffit each had six points.

                The Cougars nailed just 1 of 7 from the 3-point area and were 13 of 24 from the free throw line. Ozbayrak had a team high nine steals, while Samorodova had nine rebounds, followed by six each from Ryder and Ashley Stevens.

                Harnish said he is pleased to be unbeaten right now, especially with the number of freshmen and newcomers that are on the team.

                “You have to be happy being 3-0 especially how we are playing defense,” Harnish said. “Now, if we can get our offense going we will be a pretty good team right now.”

                The Cougars, 3-0, will wrap up the Ambassador Classic on Saturday when they face Fort Carson Army Base at 1 p.m. WNCC will then return home to host Colorado Christian junior varsity on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

WNCC (3-0)                        27 31 – 58

CO Northwestern            22 19 – 41

WNCC

Kelsey Doddridge 3, Shalisa Moffit 6, Jessica Aratani 6, Lauren Rivera 1, Idil Ozbayrak 12, Jess Samorodova 14, Gritt Ryder 10, Mikayla Brower 2, Ashley Stevens 2, Katie Kerkhoff 2.

WNCC women use strong defense to topple Colby 62-24

                COLBY, Kan. – The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team held Colby Community College to just five first-half points in racing to a 62-24 win over the Trojans to open up the Ambassador Classic in Colby, Kan., on Thursday.

                “The first half we were exceptional on defense only allowing them to five points,” WNCC coach Dave Harnish said. “We played pretty good defense and we didn’t turn it over that many times. The only thing we didn’t do was shoot very well.”

                The Cougars raced out to a 36-5 halftime lead because of their aggressive defense that resulted in a number of turnovers.

                “We started out in the first half and pressed and caused turnovers,” Harnish said. “We also controlled the boards. They had us down by out rebounding them 48-43.”

                The Cougars saw a balanced scoring lineup as everyone scored by Gritt Ryder. Jess Samorodova paced all scorers with 14 points followed by Ashley Stevens with nine points and Idil Ozbayrak with seven points. Stevens also pulled down 10 rebounds on the night.

                WNCC also received six points from Lauren Rivera, and five points each from Kelsey Doddridge, Jessica Aratani, and Katie Kerkhoff.

                The Cougars, 2-0, will continue play in the Ambassador Classic when they face Colorado Northwestern at 2 p.m. on Friday. Harnish said Colorado Northwestern has plenty of good athletes and his team needs to be ready to play just like they were today against Colby.

                “They press and they are pretty athletic,” he said. “They are a team that presses a lot and we have to handle the ball a little bit better and control the tempo of the game.”

               

WNCC (2-0)                        36 26 – 62

Colby CC                              5 19 – 24

WNCC

Kelsey Doddridge 5, Michelle Brassard 2, Jessica Aratani 5, Lauren Rivera 6, Idil Ozbayrak 7, Jess Samorodova 14, Mikayla Brower 3, Maurissa Ortega 2, Jenna Lindquist 2, Alyssa Yates 2, Ashley Stevens 9, and Katie Kerkhoff 5.

WNCC volleyball earns second seed at national tournament, will play Wallace State-Hanceville

Western Nebraska Community College volleyball coach Giovana Melo knows that if her team wants to be the best, they will have to play the best. Well, after the NJCAA released the seedings for next week’s national tournament, the Cougars will be facing some of the best teams in the nation.
                WNCC, 37-2, received the No. 2 seed in next week’s national tournament in West Plains, Mo., and will face No. 15 Wallace State-Hanceville (33-6) on Thursday, Nov. 15 at 10 a.m. The Cougars also have No. 3 Iowa Western Community College (43-2) and No. 7 North Idaho College (22-5) on their side of the bracket. Iowa Western and North Idaho are the only teams to defeat the Cougars this season.
                “Winning a national title is never easy no matter what kind of opponents you get,” Melo said. “That is why not many people can say they are national champions.”
                College of Southern Idaho earned the top-seed at the national tournament with a 29-1 record. CSI’s only loss came at the hands of WNCC at the Salt Lake Invite on Aug. 31. The rest of the top five seeds include San Jacinto College at number four and Tyler Junior College at number five.
                Casper College, the winner of the Region IX north title, received the No. 13 seed and will face San Jacinto. San Jacinto occupied the No. 1 spot in the polls for much of the season.
                If WNCC wins its opening round contest, they will face the winner of North Idaho and No. 10 Hutchinson Community College (27-8) at 6:30 p.m. A loss will put the Cougars into a Friday, Nov. 16 contest against the loser of North Idaho and Hutchinson. WNCC could also meet up with Iowa Western in a semi-final match if both teams win their matches on Thursday.
                Melo said it won’t be no easy chore to win a national title as all 16 teams will be fighting for the right to be national champs.
                “Every single team who made to nationals is there because they have earned it,” she said. “They had to beat some other great teams in their region to be there so, yes, I believe this is the best 16 teams in the country and everybody will be battling out for the title.”
                Complete first round pairings has Iowa Western taking on No. 14 Temple College (22-17) and No. 6 College of Central Florida (33-6) facing No. 11 Western Texas College (26-8) at 8 a.m. No. 1 College of Southern Idaho facing No. 16 Faulkner State Community College (27-7) and No. 8 Hillsborough Community College (27-12) taking on No. 9 Missouri State-West Plains (25-9) at noon. The final slate of first-round contests had No. 5 Tyler Junior College (29-5) facing No. 12 Redlands Community College (23-9) and No. 4 San Jacinto College (32-2) taking on No. 13 Casper College (23-17) at 2 p.m.
                The winners of the first round advance to play in the quarterfinals later on Thursday while the losers fall into the consolation bracket and play on Friday. The finals are slated for Saturday, Nov. 17 at 5:30 p.m. All the matches can be watched on the Internet at www.njcaavbd1.com.
                There could be some interesting matches after the first round, including Tyler and San Jac, who faced each other in the regional championship game could play each other in the second round. Also, former teammates at WNCC back in the early 2001 could face each other in the semifinals as Melo and Flavia Siqueira, who is the coach at the College of Central Florida, could do battle.
                Melo said if they end up playing North Idaho and Iowa Western, it will be interesting to see how they match up with them at the end of the season. North Idaho is the last team to beat the Cougars on Sept. 1. After that loss, the Cougars have reeled off 31 straight victories.
                Melo said this team can win four straight and capture their third national title in six years, but it will take teamwork.
                “We have to play our hearts out and play as a team,” she said. “We will need every single player in this team to be with the same mindset. We have to be striving for the same goal.”

First-round Pairings
Thursday, Nov. 15
 8 a.m.
No. 3 Iowa Western (43-2) vs. No. 14 Temple College (22-17)
No. 6 Central Florida (33-6) vs. No.11 Western Texas College (26-8)
10 a.m.
No. 7 North Idaho (22-5) vs. No. 10 Hutchinson C.C. (27-8)
No. 2 Western Nebraska (37-2) vs. No. 15 Wallace State-Hanceville (27-8)
Noon
No. 1 College of Southern Idaho (29-1) vs. Faulkner State (27-7)
No. 8 Hillsborough C.C. (27-12) vs. Missouri State-West Plains (25-9)
2 p.m.
No. 5 Tyler Junior College (29-5) vs. Redlands C.C. (23-9)
No. 4 San Jacinto (32-2) vs. Casper College (23-17)

WNCC volleyball enters nationals with plenty of motivation

                The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team celebrated just briefly after capturing their 14^th straight Region IX title last Saturday and now they are back to work to prepare for the NJCAA national tournament in West Plains, Mo., Nov. 15-17 with bigger fish to catch, including a national title.

And, as the Cougars prepare for the national tournament, they will be doing so with plenty of motivation after last year’s trip to nationals where they fell short, falling in the semi-finals to a red-hot Western Wyoming Community College team. WWCC went on to lose to Blinn College in the championship.

“This team knows how hard we practiced and played last year and that wasn’t enough,” sophomore libero Alex Rivera said. “I hate to sit down and watch last year’s final because it was two teams [playing] that we know we can beat. This team has learned to be fighters this year because we know that it wasn’t enough last year.”

Rivera said this season they definitely kept fighting in achieving their No. 2 ranking and 37-2 record.

“Our best qualities this year is that we are fighters and we know how to come back and we actually are doing it,” she said. “From the beginning of the season to now, we have just been fighting, fighting like crazy and fighting for everything. We want this real bad.”

The Cougars will enter next weeks’ regional tournament with plenty to play for. WNCC now holds the longest active streak of competing at nationals thanks to Miami Dade College failing to make the tournament this year. Miami Dade has been to the national tournament since 1989, marking an end to a 23-year active string of attending the national tournament.

Miami Dade, during those 23-years, won seven national titles and finished in the top four 17 times. WNCC, during their current active streak of attending nationals, has won two national titles – 2007 and 2010 – and have finished in the top four for the past eight seasons.

The Cougars also enter the national tournament with the longest win streak, having won 31 straight matches. College of Southern Idaho enters nationals with a 25-game streak, followed by Iowa Western Community College at 24 games. San Jacinto, the nation’s No. 1 team, had a 29-game win streak before falling to Tyler Junior College at their regional tournament.

WNCC’s last loss came on Sept. 1 when they lost to North Idaho College at the Salt Lake Classic. Since then, the Cougars have been perfect dropping just six sets. At one time, the Cougars won 45 straight sets. WNCC also had just two five-set contests, beating Salt Lake Community College on Aug. 31 and then topping Miami Dade on Sept. 8.

Rivera said she is proud of her team with what they have accomplished this season. Now, it is time to focus on the next step – the national tournament.

“I am so proud of my team. This is a step closer to what is our ultimate goal, and we are focused,” she said. “We know it [how we are playing] is not enough and we have been working hard. I know our mind is set to working even harder.”

At the regional tournament in McCook over the weekend, the Cougars breezed through the competition, winning all three matches in sweeps, topping Trinidad State Junior College and Northeastern Junior College twice.

Rivera said they played well overall, but has mental lapses which they have to clean up.

“I felt we played good, but we had mistakes that we shouldn’t have made,” she said. “In the second game against NJC, we played good. In the final, it was amazing to feel that emotion and how much passion we were playing with.”

Since head coach Giovana Melo took over in 2008, they have went 15-1 at the Region IX South tournaments, losing to Northeastern Junior College in 2010 – the same year they won the national title. During that same five-year stretch, the Cougars have lost just four sets. Melo has a 46-4 set record at the regional tournament.

What makes this year’s trip to the national tournament is how much this young team has grown through the matches into a team that will battle for national title next week. Rivera said they have grown by leaps and bounds since the Regis University scrimmage that saw the Cougars look lethargic to the championship team.

                “Coming in we had a big group of freshmen coming into the system and they had to get used to it [Melo’s system],” Rivera said. “Now, seeing how we started to now, it is unbelievable. We really worked hard to get better and we really are good. I feel proud of seeing my teammates doing so well.”

WNCC falls to No. 1 South Plains College

LEVELLAND, Texas — The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team shot just 27 percent from the field Tuesday night as the Cougars fell to No. 1-ranked South Plains College 102-49.

The Cougars, who came into the game averaging 101 points a contest, were ice cold from the field, connecting on just 4 of 23 from 3-point range and just 27 percent from the field overall.

“We are a little banged up with Sebastian (Suarez] out eight weeks and Tahir [Little] playing at 50 percent with a second degree shoulder separation,” WNCC coach Russ Beck said. “With those two on the mend, it leaves us with a bunch of new guys that need to get on the same page by looking at what they think that they can do and sacrificing it for what the team needs them to do.”

The Cougars trailed just 25-12 early and had plenty of chances to close the gap, but the Texans put on a late first-half run to increase their advantage to 48-24 at halftime.

The Cougars kept battling hard in the second half, but South Plains, which has five sophomores on its squad, stayed hot offensively. South Plains hit 12 3-pointers for the game, including five in the second half. South Plains outscored the Cougars 56-25 in the second half.

Three Cougars finished with eight points each. Willie Mangum, Charles Ward, and Cody Johnson each had eight points. Johnson led the team in rebounding with six boards.

Rich Williams, a Scottsbluff High School graduate, chipped in six points on two 3-pointers.

South Plains had four players score in double figures. Kendahl Amerson finished with 22 points, including connecting on six 3-pointers. Other Texans in double digits included Yanick Moreira with 19 points, Michael Karena with 12, and Roderick Lawrence with 11.

The Texans out-rebounded the Cougars 52-35. South Plains also outscored the Cougars from the bench, 43-20, and converted 12 second-chance points to WNCC’s two.

WNCC (1-2) will next be in action this weekend when it travels to Casper, Wyo., for the Region 18/9 challenge. WNCC will face College of Southern Idaho and Salt Lake Community College.

“We have a lot of work to do, and it starts with communication and having a passion for defense. We don’t have that yet,” Beck said. “And on the offensive side, we need to trust each other and the system.”

WNCC (1-2)                        24 25 – 49
South Plains (3-0)            46 56 – 102
WNCC
Tahir Little 4, Zach Clemens 3, Quante Cooley 4, Rich Williams 6, Willie Mangum 8, Trey Moore 5, Doudou Gueye 2, Charles Ward 8, Cody Johnson 8, Youssoupha Kane 1.
SOUTH PLAINS
Terrence Durham 2, Tanick Moreira 19, Jamaal Samuel 2, Darrel Lucky 4, Devonte Smith 6, Malik Nichols 1, Kendahl Amerson 22, Forrest Robinson 9, Roderick Larence 11, Brandon Neel 5, Ryan Martin 7, Michael Karena 12, Anthony Walker 2.

WNCC men set to face defending champs South Plains on the road

                [11/5/2012] The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team showed just how explosive of an offensive team they will be this season after going 1-1 at a tournament in Gillette, Wyo., over the weekend while averaging 101 points in the two games.

                The Cougars defeat Gillette College 98-78 on Friday and the fall to Sheridan College 107-104 in overtime on Saturday to open the 2012 season. The Cougars lit up the scoreboard individually as well. Willie Mangum, the freshman from Richmond, Virg., led all scorers against Sheridan with 39 points.

                Mangum is now third in the nation in scoring with a 30 per game average. Mangum also had 21 points in the Gillette win. Mangum has nailed 14 3-pointers so far this season, including 9 of 17 in the Sheridan loss.

                Mangum, who was the second-leading scorer in Virginia last year, said it isn’t a surprise that this team is scoring points. What they need to do better is play defense.

                “We have played better than we have in the past weeks, but we could have played a lot better,” Mangum, the 6-foot-1 guard, said. “It is just proven that when we score a lot, we also need to play better defense. We are getting better and better every week. I am not surprised at all with our offense because we can shoot and we have a lot of scorers and big men.”

                Magnum said this team can go a long ways after what he saw of the team in the first two games.

                “We can go far because we have a great team,” he said. “Once we come together and start gelling, we will be good. We have improved every week since playing in the gym. We started out slow in the first jamboree, then the next jamboree we were winning and the next jamboree we went undefeated. We kept improving and this coming up game will be a big test for the whole team.”

                Scoring is not a problem for either the team or Magnum. In fact, Magnum said scoring is something he loves to do. And, when he isn’t scoring, he loves dishing off the ball to his teammates to get them points.

                “At my high school, I was always the leading scorer where I averaged 29 points,” he said. “Saturday I was just in a rhythm. I was knocking down all my shots and I felt confident. It felt good to get the 39 points, but we lost so it really didn’t matter.

                Magnum said the strength of his game is scoring.

                “I was the second leading scorer in Virginia in the Top 20 scorers in the nation, so I can score,” he said. “I can get to the rim, I can shoot, and I am a good distributor, too. I can also pass the ball. I just want to win.”

                After opening with a 1-1 record, the road doesn’t get any easier as they will travel to Levelland, Texas, to face the defending national champions South Plains College on Tuesday. South Plains enters the contest at 2-0 after beating Ranger College 97-90 and Monterrey tech 95-33 at the Odessa Classic.

Mangum said playing this tough early-season schedule will pay off later in the season.

                “It will be exciting because they are No. 1,” he said. “We have to bounce back and if we beat this No. 1 team, it will put Western Nebraska on the map.”

                This past weekend definitely was a positive sign for a young Cougar team that returns just two players that saw action last season in Tahir Little and Sebastian Suarez. Suarez, however, is sidelined with two broken wrists after a fall in a scrimmage game in October.

                After the South Plains contest, the Cougars continue playing defending Region IX champions as they take on the College of Southern Idaho and Salt Lake Community College in a Region 9/18 challenge in Casper, Wyo., this weekend.

                “It is good that we are playing the best teams because we want to play the best,” he said. “To be the best, you have to play the best and beat the best.”