Day of regional tournament in the books, WNCC women will face Northwest Wyoming on Sunday

The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team has been waiting with anticipation to play in the Region IX tournament.

The Cougars will get their chance on Sunday as they will take on Northwest (Wyo.) College, who were a 66-57 winners over Western Wyoming Saturday evening in the second day of the regional tournament at Cougar Palace. The Cougars earned a first-round bye as the host team and will step onto the courts a 5 p.m. for their match-up with the Trappers. The Cougar players can’t wait to get on the court.

“We are really excited to play and to have the amazing opportunity to play on our home court for the regional tournament,” freshman Amber Kistler said. “We all know if we come out and play Western Nebraska basketball, there is nothing to worry about.”

Other games on Sunday will see Sheridan College take on Otero, who was a 62-44 winner over McCook at 1 p.m.; Casper facing Northeast Nebraska a 60-59 winner over Lamar Community College at 3 p.m. and Northeastern Colorado facing Miles Community College, who defeated Central Wyoming 51-43, at 7 p.m. The winners advance to the semifinals on Monday beginning at 5 p.m.

Kistler, who played her high school ball at Bayard, said they have learned what it takes to win at the regional tournament just by watching the first round.

“You have to want it more than anything,” she said. “It’s all or nothing at this point. Anything can happen.”

It won’t be no picnic when WNCC faces Northwest in the quarterfinals. Kistler said they need to come out strong from the get go and play well defensively.

“We are going to need to play solid defensively and shut down the other teams offense,” Kistler said. “We need to execute offensively. We are going to have to leave everything on the court each time we step on it.”

They will need a fine-tuned offensive and defensive effort it against Northwest, who have a dominating inside outside game led by Erin Cooke. Cooke had a double-double and almost single-handedly beat the Mustangs, finishing with 29 points and 17 rebounds. The Trappers held the rebounding edge over the Mustangs 35-22.

The contest, however, was close as Northwest held a 30-24 lead at halftime. The Trappers pushed the lead to double digits, leading 50-36 in the second half. Western Wyoming, however, came fighting back behind back-to-back 3-pointers by Lindee McKinley and Lacy Larson, slicing the lead to 51-42.

The Mustangs continued hammering away cutting the lead to 56-52 on a Kami Johnson bucket with about three minutes to play, and then getting to within three points, 57-54, after Larson canned another 3-pointer.

Northwest sank clutch free throws down the stretch, nailing 4 of 8 to get the win and advance to play WNCC at 5 p.m.

Northwest shot 58 percent from the field, including 4 of 10 from the beyond the arc. The Trappers were also 14 of 26 from the free throw line.

Besides Cooke, Larissa Crump finished with 12 points, while Sheena Ryan had 11 points.

Western Wyoming shot 44 percent from the field, but were 6 of 20 from 3-point range. The Mustangs were also just 1 of 2 from the free throw line.

The Mustangs had three players in double figures, led by McKinley’s 15 points, including three 3-pointers. Sami Cornelison had 12 pints, while Johnson had 10.

Northwest 30 36 – 66
Western Wyo. 24 33 – 57
NORTHWEST
Sheena Ryan 11, Lacey Gilmer 2, Larissa Crump 12, Gita Grava 9, Kati Oliverson 3, Erin Cooke 29.
WESTERN WYOMING
Michelle Carver 4, Lacy Larsen 7, Sami Cornelison 12, Lindee McKinley 15, Collette Crystal 2, Kada Williams 5, Brittany Harms 2, Kami Johnson 10.

Otero 62, McCook 44
Otero received 21 points and three 3-pointers from Heather Andersen as the Rattlers fought of a McCook second half comeback to post the 62-44 victory to move into the quarterfinals.

The Rattlers raced to a 32-16 halftime lead with a defense that shut down the McCook offense late in the first half. McCook shot just 21 percent from the line in the first half compared to 42 percent for Otero.

The second half as a different story as McCook played well. Otero jumped out to a 40-18 lead on a Bailey Wilkins 3-pointer. McCook came storming back, going on a 20-8 to run to cut the deficit to 48-38. During that run, the Indians received four key 3-pointers from Britney Bunker, Alexa Ward and two from Emmalee Fladland.

McCook cut the lead to single digits moments later, 48-40, on a bucket by Bunker with 7:30 to play. Otero changed the momentum as they hit clutch free throws down t he stretch to take the victory.

Otero shot 36 percent from the field, including 15-of-22 from the free throw line. Only two Rattlers finished in double figures. Besides Andersen’s 21, Kari Ameling had 14 points to go with her 11 rebounds.

McCook shot 25 percent from the field for the game and was just 8 of 23 from the free throw line. The Indians were just 6 of 27 from the 3-point arc. Ward and Fladland each finished with 11 points each.

Otero advances to play Sheridan Sunday at 1 p.m.

McCook 16 28 – 44
Otero JC 32 30 – 62
MCCOOK COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Alexa Ward 11, Michelle Price 3, Sierra Guy 7, Emmalee Fladland 11, Syklar Johnson 7, Britney Bunker 5.
OTERO JUNIOR COLLEGE
Heather Andersen 21, Desiree Marrfo 8, Rachelle Tilavea 6, Bailey Wilkins 7, Alex Dunn 4, Kari Ameling 14, Upuia Fui 2.

NE Nebraska 60, Lamar 59
The Northeast (Neb.) Community College Hawks survived an upset challenge from Lamar Community College in registering a 60-59 win in a game that went down to the wire.

The No. 3 seed Runnin’ Lopes were looking for the upset over the No. 2 seed Hawks and after one half, Lamar was in control, leading 29-26. Lamar led the last 10 minutes of the first half and actually had a 26-19 lead after two buckets by Ruchelle McCracken and two free throws by Kathryn Clouser. Northeast fought back to climb within 29-25 on a Elisha Foley 3-pointer.

In the second half, Northeast started to run away with the game, leading 52-43 on a Sofie Lundberg 3-pointer with 9:15 to play.

Lamar fought back, going on a 12-3 run to tie the score at 55 with 5:44 to play. Eli Cosme-Gonzalez led the charge with back-to-back, coast-to-coast drives. Northeast answered right back as Foley drained a 3-pointer after a timeout to put the Hawks up 58-55.

Lamar kept fighting as Clouser and Morgan Smith canned back-to-back buckets with 1:30 to play. Clouser’s bucket was an offensive putback.

Neither team scored until there was 30 seconds left in the game as Jasmine Lovejoy had an offensive rebound putback to put the Runnin’ Lopes up 60-59. Lamar came down the court and missed a shot. Northeast, with just 4.5 ticks on the clock, lost the ball and a last second heave from just inside the 3-point arc fell short with the Hawks surviving.

Lamar held the advantage on the boards, out-rebounding Northeast 52-29 as Clouser collected 10 boards and Cosme-Gonzalez had 11. Clouser paced the Lopes with 10 points, while Cosme-Gonzalez had 11.

Northeast, who shot just 35 percent from the field and were 8 of 22 from beyond the arc, had two players in double figures. Lovejoy finished with 15 points, while Foley had 10 points and three 3-pointers. Raelene Buschow led the team with 10 rebounds.

Northeast advances to play Casper College Sunday at 3 p.m.

Lamar CC 29 30 -- 69
NE Nebraska 26 34 -- 60
LAMAR COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Kathryn Clouser 17, Morgan Smith 7, Eli Cosme-Gonzalez 8, Jami Cagle 10, Krystine George 2, Charlotte Epperson 2, Camille Rand 2, Ruchelle McCracken 11.
NORTHEAST NEBRASKA
Stephanie Robinson 5, Jasmine Lovejoy 15, Dawn Bonnell 9, Mairead McNally 5, Elisha Foley 10, Whitley Smiley 2, Sofie Lundberg 6, Raelene Buschow 8.

Miles 51, Central Wyoming 43
The Miles Community College women avoided an upset by outscoring Central Wyoming College 16-7 in the final five minutes to move on to face Northeastern Colorado in the quarterfinals.

Central Wyoming held a 26-16 lead late in the first half and then had to settle for a 26-20 halftime lead as Beata Bak scored four straight points.

In the second half, Central Wyoming went cold from the field early, shooting just 33 percent from the field. The Rustlers scored just four points in the first 10 minutes of the half. In the meantime, the Pioneers started to use the size advantage in moving out to a 45-38 lead with 1:42 to play.

Central came back, cutting the lead to 45-42 with 35.8 seconds to play on two Sakia Schaefer free throws. But Miles’ Kristen Brady hit a key bucket and then converted on two free throws to give Miles the win.

Miles was led in scoring by Bak and Brady each with 14 points. Bak also pulled down six rebounds. Shannon Hildreth finished the contest with seven rebounds.

Central Wyoming, who out-rebounded the much taller Pioneers 46-36, was the victim of poor shooting, especially from the 3-point arc. Central made just 4 of 22 3-pointers. Central was led in scoring by Hope White with 15 points, including three 3-pointers.

Central Wyo. 26 17 – 43
Miles C.C. 20 31 – 51
CENTRAL WYOMING
Sakia Schaefer 2, Hope White 15, Lynzee Crosland 2, Brooke Tolman 7, Nicole Merrill 6, Jeri Jacobson 6, Rachel Mundy 1, Mele Lutui 4.
MILES COMMUNTIY COLLEGE
Cassie May 2, Shannon Hildreth 5, Sara Plavljanin 6, Beata Bak 14, Dale Samuels 6, Kristen Brady 14, Dina Fritz 2, Marni Magnuson 6.

Day one of Regional Tournament in the books

Day one of the Region IX women’s basketball tournament is in the books and all three No. 1 seeds advanced in dramatic fashion Friday at Western Nebraska Community College’s Cougar Palace.

Sheridan opened the tournament with a 79-47 win over Eastern Wyoming College as Tahnee Robinson finished with 32 points, including four 3-pointers. Casper College also advanced, getting a 27-point effort from Josie Stewart in posting an 108-71 win over Little Big Horn College. The nightcap saw the No. 8 Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen topple Dawson Community College 99-48 as four Plainswomen finished in double figures.

Tournament action continues Saturday with the No. 2 and 3 seeds doing battle. Action begins with Otero Junior College meeting McCook Community College at 1 p.m. followed by Northeast Community College meeting Lamar Community College at 3 p.m., Western Wyoming Community College facing Northwest College at 5 p.m. and Miles Community College battling Central Wyoming College at 7 p.m.

Sheridan 79, Eastern Wyoming 47
The Sheridan and Eastern Wyoming contest started out as a barnburner in the first half. Sheridan held an a 34-24 lead late in the first half as Robinson connected on six points. The Lancers finished out the half strong, rattling in three straight 3-pointers, including two from Noelle Jones and one from Danielle Brown to trail 34-33 at halftime.

The second half was all Sheridan as the Generals defense held the Lancers in check. The Lancers scored the first points of the half on two Jessica Brown free throws to take the lead. Sheridan’s inside and outside game was two strong as the Generals went on a 29-2 run to lead 63-37 with seven minutes left in the game.

EWC finished the contest shooting 30 percent from the field. The Lancers shot 52 percent in the first half and sunk to a dismal 11 percent in the second half. Jessica Brown led the Lancers with 17 points followed by Jones with 11.

The Generals sizzled the nets for 54 percent shooting, including canning 10 of 18 3-point attempts. Robinson led the team with 32 points on 12 of 14 shooting from the field. The sophomore also had five rebounds and four assists.

Kendahl Avery and Torrington’s Mandy Mullock each tallied 11 points on the day.

Sheridan advances to a Sunday 1 p.m. contest against the winner of the McCook and Otero contest.

EWC 33 34 – 47
Sheridan 34 45 – 79
EASTERN WYOMING
Jodie Loyd 3, Alex Leake 2, Koel Hall 4, Jessica Martinez 1, Noelle Jones 11, Jessica Brown 17, Danielle Brown 9.
SHERIDAN COLLEGE
Paulina Chudarkova 2, SirShawna Dowdy 4, Tahnee Robinson 32, Kori Bingham 9, Micki Scally 3, Mandy Mullcok 11, Kendahl Avery 11, Cassie Carlson 7.

Casper College 108, Little Big Horn 71
Casper and Little Big Horn connected on 15 first-half 3-pointers,but it was the Thunderbirds that held the upper hand as they raced to a 63-35 halftime lead on their way to a convincing 108-71 win.

The game, in the early going, was a shootout. Little Big Horn trailed 19-15 early as Raylee Pretty Weasel nailed one of her six 3-pointers. Little Big Horn trailed 30-20 with about 10 minutes to play before the Thunderbirds kicked in the afterburner, going on a 9-0 run to lead 39-20.

The Rams fought back on 3-pointers by Miranda Rowland and Charla Takes Enemy to trail 43-33 with 3>48 to play in the opening half. Casper then went on a 20-2 run to close out the half, burying four 3-pointers including two from Stewart, to take a 53-35 lead at halftime.

The second half was all Casper as the Thunderbirds shot 51 percent from the field and buried 13 of 20 free throws. Casper’s size also proved beneficial, holding a 57-30 rebounding edge. Wendy Walker led the T-birds with seven boards followed by Emily Elliot with six.

Stewart finished with 27 points, including 9 of 12 shooting from the floor, while Elliott had 14 points, including four steals and four 3-pointers.

Little Big Horn had three players hit the double figure column. Pretty Weasel collected 32 points with six 3-pointers and eight rebounds, while Rowland had 19 points, five 3-pointers and four assists. Takes Enemy finished with 11 points with three 3-pointers and three assists.

Casper advances to play Sunday at 3 p.m. against the winner of the Northeast Nebraska and Lamar contest.

Little Big Horn 35 36 – 71
Casper College 63 45 – 108
LITTLE BIG HORN
Miranda Rowland 19, Charla Takes Enemy 11, Raylee Pretty Weasel 32, Ashley Bird 5, Katherine Haugen 4.
CASPER COLLEGE
Emily Elliott 14, Kelly Fargen 6, Samira Van Grinsven 9, Jenny Harms 2, Dana Seth 5, Wendy Walker 9, Yianna Nadeau 8, Megan House 8, Megan Wilson 9, Kerstin Minchow 3, Josie Stewart 27, Ewa Urbanowska 8.

Northeastern Colorado 99, Dawson 48
The Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen struggled early, holding a 19-9 lead with 10 minutes gone in the first half. That was when the No. 8 ranked team went on a 9-0 run to lead 28-11 to run to a 44-23 halftime lead.

Amy Marin was the big threat in the first half, collecting eight of her 14 points. The freshman from Iliff, Colo., also had three steals to ignite the Plainswomen.

In the second half, the Plainsmen shot 50 percent and continued playing tough defense in getting the win. Dawson shot just 35 percent from the field, including 28 percent in the second half.

NJC controlled the boards, our-rebounding the Buccaneers 54-31. Silke Forstman led the team with seven boards. Frostman also had 14 points as did Marin. Also collecting double digit scoring for the Plainswomen were Tira Callaway with 12 points and Sabelle Diata with 11 points.

Dawson was led in scoring by Alanya Three Irons with 15 points followed by Tessa Dolezal with nine points.

NJC advances to play the winner of the Miles and Central Wyoming Sunday at 7 p.m.

Dawson 23 25 – 48
NE Colorado 44 55 – 99
DAWSON
Tia Emerson 2, Krista Williams 5, Alanya Three Irons 15, Janelle Sheeran 5, Courtney Talerico 4, Tessa Dolezal 9, Amber Williams 2, Jessica Stevens 6.
NORTHEASTERN COLORADO
Amy Marin 14, Tira Callaway 12, Candace Ewart 8, Kristy Henderson 8, Chelsea Arnel 4, Dawn Wattley 8, Sabelle Diata 11, Christina Brennan 8, Jessica Priest 3, Lacie Balakova 9, Silke Forstman 14.

WNCC softball wins two against Barton Communtiy College

GREAT BEND, Kan. -- The Western Nebraska Community College softball team picked up home runs by Katie Groves and Kelsie Garner as the Cougars won twice over Barton Community College Friday. WNCC collected 7-2 and 7-6 for their 9^th wins of the season.

In the opener, WNCC put up a five-run third inning to take a 5-0 lead. Alec Voci started things with a double and scored on a Alyssa Hickey single. Adena Hagen followed with a run-scoring double. With the score 3-0, Groves slapped a 2-run run shot, for her sixth home run of the season for the 5-0 lead.

WNCC added two insurance runs in the fifth inning as Garner roped a two RBI double for a 7-1 lead.

Garner picked up the win in the circle, going six innings, striking out 13 and scattering five hits. Stephanie Townsend pitched the final inning allowing a hit and a run.

Hagen paced the Cougars going 2-for-4 with a double, run scored and a RBI. Groves went 1-for-2 with a home run, two runs scored and two RBIs, while Garner went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and a double.

While the Cougars pounded out six hits in game one, their bats were a little bit more solid in the second game, rapping 11 hits. Four players finished with multiple hits. Groves went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two singles, while Garner went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a home run. Kelly Pearson went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored, while Tonya Atencio was 2-for-2 with two RBIs and two singles.

The Cougars scored two runs in the opening inning as Groves singled and scored on Garner home run. WNCC added a single run in the second only to watch Barton score three times in the bottom of the frame to tie the score 3-3.

Barton took a 5-3 lead after three innings before the Cougars came back with a single run in the fourth and two runs in the fifth.

The fifth inning saw the Cougars score two runs on three hits. Brittany Chacon started things by getting plunked with a pitch. Groves followed with a single followed by Pearson rapping out a single. Groves scored the first run and then Pearson scored on a Garner single for the 6-5 lead.

Casey Simpson picked up the win going six innings, scattering nine hits and allowing five runs. Simpson struck out three and walked four. Garner got the save, throwing the seventh inning while striking out two.

WNCC (9-10) will be back in action Saturday and Sunday in the Cloud County Tournament in Concordia, Kan. WNCC will face Colby at 9:30 a.m., Iowa Lakes Community College at 11:30 a.m. and Iowa Western Community College at 3:30 p.m.

Game One
WNCC 005 002 0 – 7 6
Barton 000 100 1 – 2 6
WP – Garner; 2B – Hagen, Garner, Alec Voci; HR – Groves

Game Two
WNCC (9-10) 210 120 0 – 6 11
Barton 032 000 0 – 5 9
WP – Simpson; Save – Garner; 2B – Pearson; HR – Garner.

WNCC baseball game with Lamar moved to Friday at 1 p.m.

The Western Nebraska Community College and Lamar Community College baseball game scheduled for Saturday at Cleveland Field has been moved up a day to Friday, March 6 to beat the weather. First pitch for the Region IX conference doubleheader is slated for 1 p.m.

WNCC coach Mike Jones said Victor Rubio will start game one, while Ben Doran will get the nod in game two. Lamar is 2-0 in conference and 6-7 overall, while WNCC is 0-2 in conference and 5-10 overall.

WNCC's conference doubleheader with Otero Junior College is still scheduled for Sunday at noon at Cleveland Field.

Monteagudo powers WNCC baseball team past Trinidad State

TRINIDAD, Colo. - Aurelio Monteagudo blasted three home runs as the Western Nebraska Community College baseball team snapped a five-game losing streak on Sunday with a 7-1 win over Trinidad State Junior College.

The nine-inning contest was a non-conference game. Trinidad State swept a doubleheader from the Cougars on Saturday.

In the win on Sunday, Monteagudo finished the game going 4-for-5 with five runs batted in and three runs scored. Also finishing with multiple hits in the game for WNCC was Elvis Garcia. Garcia went 3-for-5 with a run scored.

Two other Cougars collected hits in the game, including Oscar Rodriquez and Jared Baros. Rodriguez and Jason Sloan both drove in runs.

Gustavo Sanchez earned the win on the mound for WNCC. He allowed just one run on three hits in 6 1/3 innings of work. Sanchez (1-1) struck out five Trojans. Ben Doran pitched the final 2 2/3 innings. He allowed just one hit.

WNCC trailed 1-0 early before tying the score at 1-1 in the top of the third inning. The Cougars took the lead for good with a run in the fourth. Leading 4-1 after eight innings of play, WNCC tacked on three insurance runs in the top of the ninth to cap the scoring.

The Cougars (5-9) return to action on Wednesday in Fort Collins, Colo., against the Colorado State University club team.

WNCC will then host a six-game homestand in four days beginning Saturday against Lamar Community College. First pitch of the doubleheader is slated for 1 p.m. at Cleveland Field in Scottsbluff. The Cougars will then host Otero Junior College in a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at noon before playing McCook Community College in a doubleheader beginning at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10. All six of the home contests are Region IX conference games.

WNCC (5-9) 001 101 013 - 7 9 1
Trinidad State (12-6) 010 000 000 - 1 4 2
WP - Gustavo Sanchez (1-1). LP - Mundfrom.
HR - Aurelio Monteagudo (3). 2B - Elvis Garcia.

WNCC baseball swept at Trinidad State

Submitted by Jeremy Woznick, Scottsbluff Star-Herald sports reporter

TRINIDAD, Colo. - Missed opportunities plagued the Western Nebraska Community College baseball team in its Region IX-opening doubleheader at Trinidad State Junior College on Saturday in Trinidad, Colo.

The Cougars dropped both games of the twinbill by scores of 6-3 and 7-2.

"We had plenty of opportunities on offense that just didn't work out for us," WNCC coach Mike Jones said. "We had runners on base in both games. We need to take advantage of those situations and do a better job of moving runners into scoring position."

The Cougars and Trojans will hook up in a nine-inning game today. The game won't be counted in the regional standings.

In game one on Saturday, WNCC was held to just a single run through five innings before Aurelio Monteagudo belted a two-run home run in the top of the sixth to bring the Cougars within 5-3. However, Trinidad State scored an insurance run in the bottom of the inning to put down WNCC's rally.

The Cougars mustered just four hits against Trinidad State starter Ryan Salt. The big right-hander from Colorado Springs pitched all seven innings to earn the win for the Trojans.
Victor Rubio took the loss on the mound for WNCC. Rubio (1-2) allowed four runs on five hits and struck out one.

In game two, WNCC jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning on Monteagudo's two-run double. However, the lead was short-lived as the Trojans knotted the score at 2-2 with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning.

Trinidad State erupted for five runs in the bottom of the sixth to prevail.

Bo McLavey limited WNCC to just four hits in registering the complete-game win on the mound for the Trojans. David Castle (1-1) took the loss on the mound for the Cougars out of the bullpen.
WNCC starter Enrique Gonzalez lasted just three innings on the hill before being removed because of a sore elbow. Jones said Gonzalez will be examined further on Monday. In his brief stint on the mound, Gonzalez allowed just two hits and fanned two.

Monteagudo led WNCC offensively in game two by going 2-for-3. Jason Sloan went 1-for-1.

"The second game we let get away from us a little bit," Jones said. "It's tough to go 0-2 to open the conference schedule, but we're only going to get better as we go."

WNCC dropped to 4-9 on the season. Trinidad State is now 12-5.

Game One
WNCC 010 002 0 - 3 4 2
Trinidad State 201 111 x - 6 8 3
WP - Ryan Salt. LP - Victor Rubio (1-2).
HR - Aurelio Monteagudo.

Game Two
WNCC (4-9) 002 000 0 - 2 4 3
Trinidad State (12-5) 002 005 x - 7 6 1
WP - Bo McLavey. LP - David Castle (1-1).
2B - Monteagudo.

WNCC take down NJC 95-81 for 26th win of the season

Western Nebraska Community College’s Scott Bamforth finished with 31 points, including eight 3-pointers as the Cougars registered a 95-81 win over Northeastern Junior College in the team’s regular season finale.

The win, the Cougar’s 24^th of the season, gave WNCC the series sweep over the Plainsmen, who WNCC coach Brian Joyce coached at before coming to WNCC. Joyce thought his team played hard in getting the win.

“I knew it was going to be a physical game. They obviously have a good team and have won a lot of games in the last few years,” Joyce said. “Our guys were excited for the game, but I thought our guys did a good job keeping their composure and putting us in position to win. We just had to make tough plays and eventually we started to get a little bit of a gap in the second half.”

WNCC didn’t start the contest like world-beaters as the Plainsmen took it to the Cougars, racing to a 15-9 lead on a Anthony Harris bucket and zoomed ahead 21-12 after a AJ Wilson 3-pointer. That was when the tied started to change as Harris, who had eight early points, was dismissed from the game after receiving a technical foul.

With Harris, one of the Plainsmen’s leading scorers out of the contest, things became a chess match on the court. The Cougars fought back as Daniel Smith tied the contest at 29-29. Neither team held more than a three-point lead the rest of the half as Francisco Cruz buried an NBA 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Cougars into the locker room tied with NJC 44-44.

The second half became the Bamforth 3-point show as the freshman from Albuquerque, N.M., sizzled the nets for five treys. Bamforth nailed two treys in the first four minutes to give WNCC a 57-52 lead. NJC came back, cutting the lead to two points on a Will Bell bucket, 59-57.

The Cougars, leading just by four points with 10 minutes to play, put some distance between them and the Plainsmen as Bamforth connected on two 3-pointers and Cruz nailed one as well, to give WNCC a 72-61 lead.

NJC cut the deficit to eight points, 80-72 with 3:23 to play, but Bamforth quickly silenced the comeback, drilling his eight 3-pointer of the contest. Bamforth eight 3-pointers is the most 3-pointers in a game since Jason Trimble buried eight in 1997 against North Platte Community College. The school record is 11 set by Scottsbluff’s Rick Kinner back in 1996.

Those three consecutive 3-pointers was a big factor in the game.

“I thought our guys did a really good job of finding them (Bamforth and Cruz),” Joyce said. “That is always tough at this level because guys are always trying to show off and do things themselves so they can get recruited to the next level. Our guys have done a good job of concerning themselves with the team and finding the open shooters. I thought Clark and Danny did a good job with that. Those two are great penetrators that they can find the open guy, and then they hit the shot when they got it.”

WNCC finished the game with 11 total 3-pointers, including three from Cruz. The Cougars also put four players in double figures. Bamforth not only had 31 points, but he was 8 of 13 from the 3-point arc and 7 of 9 from the free throw line.

Cruz finished with 21 points, including going 8 of 10 from the free throw line as well as pulling down five rebounds. Sedrick McBounds and Danny Smith each finished with 12 points. Smith also had four assists.

NJC was led by AJ Wilson with 32 points, including four 3-pointers. Wilson was the only Plainsmen in double digits.

WNCC also out-rebounded the Plainsmen 40-29, including a 16-10 edge on the offensive boards. The Cougars were also 26 of 37 from the free throw line compared to 16 of 29 for the Plainsmen.

WNCC will next be in action at the Region IX men’s tournament, which will be held in Sterilng, Colo. The Cougars will open play Friday against Dawson Community College at 3 p.m. If they win, they will face the winner of the Central Wyoming and Lamar contest Sunday at 3 p.m. The winner of the regional tournament qualifies for the national tournament.

Joyce said now is the time of the season where a team needs to play hard each and every game.

“Once you get in the post season you will play against good teams,” he said. “So, from here on out, there can’t be a letdown because you will go home real quick. We will continue to work on the same things all year, which is making it difficult for the teams to score.”

NJC (20-10) 44 37 – 81

WNCC (24-6) 44 51 – 95

NORTHEASTERN COLORADO

Leon Washington 2, Mitchell Fraser 6, Will Bell 8, Justin Schniedier 7, Dre Calloway 6, Alex Garcia 9, AJ Wilson 32, Nate Nelson 3, Anthony Harris 8.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Lloyd Hickinson 2, Tarell Clark 6, Danny Smith 12, Chris Hamblin 6, Scott Bamforth 31, Francisco Cruz 21, Sedrick McBounds 12, John Bright 3.

WNCC women lose heartbreaker to NJC 44-43

SeLina Ysac’s final regular season contest at Cougar Palace didn’t go the way she would liked as the No. 22 Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team fell in a heartbreaker 44-43 to the No. 8 Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen Saturday afternoon.

“It is disappointing [to lose at the last second] but at the same time we are looking forward to playing them again,” the Scottsbluff graduate said. “It was a real physical game. It has always been like that with NJC. I think we should have won that game. I think we worked hard and we will get them next time.“

Ysac and the rest of the Cougar women will get another chance to overcome the loss on their home court as they get set to host the Region IX tournament March 6-10. That is good news for the Cougars as the Cougars’ Stormye Everett nailed a last second shot but it was after the buzzer went off.

“That [coming back from a halftime deficit] is a good sign to give us more intensity and hopefully we will see them in the semi-finals,” Ysac said. “We didn’t shoot very well tonight. Hopefully this week we will have some practices and hopefully we will be on in the regional tournament when it counts.”

WNCC coach Dave Harnish can attest to that as the Cougars were 0 of 13 from the 3-point arc and just 17 percent from the field for the game.

“This was very characteristic of the game down at NJC where we are down at halftime. Down there we came back and took the lead and had chance to win and it was the same way tonight,” he said. “We just didn’t shoot the ball very well. We have been shooting the ball very well and you certainly have to give credit to their defense. Shooting 17 percent we were even fortunate to be in the game. I am certainly proud of the kids. They played hard. We really didn’t turn it over a lot. We just didn’t shoot it well and you have some of those nights.”

The contest was an epic WNCC and NJC encounter. Back in January, the Plainswomen won 52-50 at Sterling, Colo., on a last second shot. This time, the Cougars were hoping to reverse the action. They almost did except the difference in the contest was field shooting. WNCC was just 16 percent from the field in the first half and 17 percent for the game.

NJC shot lights out in the first half, nailing 48 percent of their contest as the Plainswomen raced to a 25-15 halftime lead. In the second half, NJC scored the first five points as Kristy Henderson scored the first four points and Sabelle Diata had a free throw as the Plainswomen doubled up the Cougars 30-15.

That was with 17:51 left to play in the contest. After that, the Cougars settled down, going on a 13-0 run and holding the Plainswomen scoreless for eight minutes. The run started with Bayard’s Amber Kistler converting four free throws – two technical shots and two foul throws.

Kistler then nailed a bucket with 11 minutes left to bring WNCC within two points at 30-28. Two minutes later, WNCC’s Shaquilah Davis converted a 3-point play to tie the game at 31, which was the Cougars first tie of the game since early in the first half.

WNCC finally took its first lead of the contest on two Ysac free throws with 7:37 to play, 34-33, which was the start of a 6-0 run that gave the Cougars a 37-33 lead with just over five minutes to play.

Northeastern came storming back, tying the game at 37 on a bucket by Amy Marin with 4:10 left before taking a 42-39 lead with 47.8 second remaining. The Cougars didn’t fold as Davis nailed two free throws with 38.5 second to play. Silke Forstman added a bucket for NJC to put the No. 8 team in the nation back up by three, 44-41 with 21 seconds to play.

Davis sliced the lead to 44-43 with 16.6 seconds and then NJC’s Dawn Wattley missed two free throws to give WNCC a chance at the win. NJC blocked the first attempt of the winning field goal, but NJC immediately turned the ball over. WNCC, with 3.4 seconds left, had a chance to win it but the first attempt wouldn’t fall and the second try, but Everett, went in but the buzzer went off before the ball left her hand.

Davis led the team with 12 points. Ysac finished with nine points and six rebounds. Kistler and Everett finished with eight points. Everett had seven boards and four steals, and Tawny Drexler and Kistler had three and two steals each.

WNCC, 23-7, will next be in action at the Region IX tournament. WNCC received a first round bye in the tournament and will play Sunday, March 8 at 5 p.m. against the winner of the Western Wyoming Community College and Northwest College contest. That game is slated for March 7 at 5 p.m.

NJC (27-1) 25 19 – 44

WNCC (23-7) 15 28 – 43

NORTHEASTERN COLORADO

Amy Marin 10, Tira Callaway 2, Candace Ewert 2, Kristy Henderson 7, Chelsea Arnell 2, Sabelle Diata 5, Jessica Priest 7, Lacie Balakova 1, Silke Forstman 8.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Amber Kister 8, SeLina Ysac 9, Shaquilah Davis 12, Stormye Everett 8, Tawny Drexler 5, Janae Willis 1.

WNCC volleyball gets two more recruits in Gering's Schmidt and Colorado's Austin

Giovana Melo continues bringing in the talent for next year’s Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team.

The latest members for next year’s team include Gering’s Sierra Schmidt and Ariel Austin of Woodland Park, Colo. Schmidt is a 5-foot-4 setter/defensive specialist, while Austin is a 5-11 rightside left-handed hitter.

Both are excited to be joining a nationally-recognized program like WNCC.

“I choose WNCC because their program has been so successful for so long,” Schimdt said. “I played for Chris Green for club volleyball and now since Coach G is here, it will be that much better.”

Melo has seen Schmidt progress as an athlete through the years, first when Melo was a player here and watched her as a youngster at volleyball camps, to this year when Schmidt was the starting setter.

“I have been watching her since I have been playing here and I remember her being a little girl and coming to the camps then, as well as coming to our camps this year,” Melo said. “I have been watching her in high school and I think she brings a lot of energy. She works really hard for everything she does. It helps to have a player like that in the program. She pushes everybody and that helps the program get better.”

Schmidt will be the third Gering graduate on the team next year, joining her former teammates Whitney Roth and Brooke Blomenkamp. Schmidt said that should make the transition to college that much easier.

“[Having them here] didn’t influence my decision but it made it that much better since they will be there with me,” she said. “I am just really excited to come here. I want to be part of a team that is able to go far, and even if I don’t get to play, I am still honored to be part of that team. “

Melo said it will be advantageous in having at least three local players on the team.

“This past year Whitney and Brooke have made a difference in our program, and I am sure Sierra is going to add to that,” Melo, who just finished her first year at the Cougar head coach last fall leading them to a third place finish at nationals, said. “They are going to get a long together because they have known each other for a while. It just adds to the chemistry of the program.”

Even if Schmidt hadn’t decided to play sports in college, she said she was still leaning on attending WNCC.

“This was my main choice for a college, sportswise,” she said. “If I wouldn’t have came here for sports, I probably would have went here anyways. I was also looking at UNL and UNK just for school.”

Schmidt had a standout career at Gering, helping them to a 15-15 record which included winning six straight matches. Schmidt finished her senior seasons as one of the top in the state, earning Class B all-state honorable mention, a Star-Herald All-Region selection, Western Conference all-conference and the Twin City Invitational all-tournament team.

Schmidt finished the season with 78 kills, 630 assists, 181 digs, 25 solo blocks, 42 aces and was an 82 percent server.

Melo also has signed a talented rightside hitter in Austin, who was a 3-year letter winning and senior captain in volleyball at Woodland Park High, just west of Colorado Springs. Austin has also gone to state in track and field in the triple and long jumps.

Austin said this college felt right when she visited.

“The college was small and it felt like a great fit for me,” she said. “I felt welcomed when I came to visit because there were a couple of athletes that greeted me when I arrived.”

Austin said she was surprised initially when Melo paid her a visit during a club practice.

"I had club practice and Coach Giovana came to watch. When my practice was done, she gave me a packet with information,” she said. “She wanted me to come and visit.”

Austin, who was also looking at attending Hutchinson Community College, Southeastern Louisiana University and Lamar University, brings a lot of talent to the Cougar lineup. Austin has played volleyball since the seventh grade and also for the Colorado Juniors club team, where they went to nationals in Dallas and placed 33^rd. She currently is playing club volleyball for the 18 Kevin for Colorado Juniors, and just got back from the Las Vegas Invitational where the team placed 9^th out of 164 teams.

WNCC baseball drops home opener to Colorado State

The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team saw their runs at a premium in their home-opener at Cleveland Field, dropping a doubleheader against Colorado State University club team.

The Rams utilized a one-hit pitching performance from Bobby Moller in a 6-0 win in game one, and then used a 4-run fifth inning to take the nightcap 6-4.

WNCC coach Mike Jones said his team didn’t perform like they did in a five-game series against Barton Community College over the weekend.

“I thought we showed up and played with more intensity in the second game. I thought we had better at bats and Sam Diaz pitched a good ball game. We just made a couple mistakes behind him and we didn’t bounce back after making those mistakes. We kind of let those mistakes defeat us. We need to do a better job of keeping our head up even though we make a few mistakes and not let them beat us like that.”

The big difference in the second game was a fifth inning where Colorado State scored four times with two outs. During that inning, the Rams finished with three hits and took advantage of two costly WNCC errors. The big hit in that inning was a 2-RBI double by Mike Roberts.

“That inning was the big difference in the ball game. We had two plays in that inning where we could have put a stop to it. We should have came back into the dugout with a 2-1 lead and maybe tied 2-2,” Jones said. “We are going to make mistakes. We are a young ball club and it is early in the season. Those things will happen. I would of liked us to rally together a little bit more and come back and get back in the ball game offensively.”

WNCC started the second game strong, plating two runs in the first inning. Josh Parker, a freshman from Canberra, Australia, and Eric Garcia scored on singles by Alex Arias and Anthony Paniagua.

The lead stayed that way until the fourth inning when Colorado State sliced the lead in half, 2-1, before taking a 5-2 lead in the fifth inning. WNCC came right back in the bottom of the fifth to score a run. Parker started the rally with a one-out single. Garcia then walked to put two runners on. Parker then scored on a single by Ronald Miller to bring the Cougars back to 5-3.

Colorado State added an insurance run in the sixth inning only to watch WNCC make a comeback. Parker reached base by taking advantage of an error. Scottsbluff’s Trace Marsden followed with a pinch-hit single to left field. Miler then scored Parker with a groundball to cut the lead to 6-4.

“We did get some guys on base late in the game,” Jones said. “We got some guys on base in the fifth inning, the sixth inning and the seventh inning. But we just couldn’t come up with that big hit.”

Sam Diaz took the loss, going 4 2/3 innings, allowing five runs and fiving up four hits. Diaz also struck out two and issued five free passes. Luis Orta worked the rest of the contest, allowing one run and five hits. Orta also fanned four batters.

WNCC managed just six hits in the game. Parker finished the game 1-for-3 with three runs scored, while Marsden went 1-for-1.

The opener was all Colorado State as The Cougars were held without a hit until a fourth-inning lead-off single by Jason Sloan. In fact, Moller controlled the Cougar hitters, striking out seven in six innings of work, while walking four.

WNCC’s Armani Gonzalez took the loss, going five innings and allowing five runs on six hits. Gonzalez struck out two and issued five free passes to the Rams’ batters. Rodil Martinez finished the contest, throwing two innings and giving up one run on two hits.

The Cougars, 4-7, will open up Empire Conference action this weekend when they travel to Trinidad State Junior College for a doubleheader on Saturday and one game on Sunday. Trinidad enters the contest with a league best 8-5 record, after topping Dodge City Community College 9-4 and 13-1 on Tuesday.

Jones said his team needs to bring their A game to the field.

“I am not sure how we are going to respond to that yet,” he said. “I am concerned about our intensity at times. I am concerned about our desire to win at times. When the conference games comes, maybe we will flip a switch and play a little bit better.”

Game One
CSU 104 001 0 – 6 8 0
WNCC 000 000 0 – 0 1 2
WP – Moller; LP – A. Gonzalez; 2B – CSU (Jake Fox).

Game Two
CSU 000 140 1 – 6 8 1
WNCC 200 010 1 – 4 6 3
WP – Childs, LP – Diaz; 2B – CSU (Roberts).

WNCC men fall to North Platte

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball saw their six-game winning streak halted Tuesday evening as the hands of North Platte Community College.

WNCC and North Platte battled tooth and nail in the second half after the Knights held a 38-30 halftime lead. The Cougars had a chance to force overtime tied at 67-67, but a NBA 3-point attempt by Scott Bamforth rained in the basket and then bounced out to preserve the win for the Knights.

It was the first road for the Cougars since Dec. 6 when they lost to Northwest Wyoming at the Eastern Wyoming tournament. Even with the loss to North Platte, WNCC wins the sub-region with a 5-1 record, while North Platte gets the No. 2 seed in next month’s regional tournament with a 3-3 sub-regional mark.

The Cougars played the contest without Larry Brown, who turned an ankle. Still, WNCC battled North Platte, out-rebounding the hosts 34-27. Tarell Clark pulled down eight rebounds, followed by Francisco Cruz with six and Danny Smith with five.

WNCC knocked home seven 3-pointers, in shooting 35 percent from beyond the arc. Scott Bamforth finished with three treys, while Cruz had two.

Cruz led the team with 19 points followed by Bamforth and Sedrick McBounds with 13 and Smith with 10.

North Platte was paced by Ragland with 22 points, followed by Brenten Brown with 12 points.

The Cougars will look to get back on the winning track Saturday when they host Northeastern Junior College in the final regular season game. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. in the contest that will honor the three departing sophomores.

WNCC (23-6) 30 37 – 67
North Platte (21-7) 38 32 – 70
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Lloyd Hickinson 3, Tarell Clark 6, Saul Torres 1, Danny Smith 10, Scott Bamforth 13, Francisco Cruz 19, Sedrick McBounds 13, John Bright 2.

WNCC women pick up win No. 23 over Otero Junior College

The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team connected on eight 3-pointers and used a smothering second half defense in registering their seventh straight win in collecting a 68-37 win over Otero Junior College Tuesday night at Cougar Palace.

The Cougars sank six first-half 3-pointers, including three from Shaquilah Davis in running to a 32-20 halftime lead. Davis finished the game with 22 points and four 3-pointers, including 13 in the first half.

WNCC coach Dave Harnish said the first half play was key, especially how they shot the ball on the evening.

“We shot the ball early to get up by 18 and then we got to a point where we let them back in the game because we kept shooting threes and stopped penetrating,” he said. “I thought the second half we had better balance to where if we had to go up with a shot, we took it, and if we not we penetrated. I thought the balance of shots was better in the second half.”

WNCC converted on 46 percent from the field, including 40 percent (8 of 20) from the 3-point area. Amber Kistler buried two treys, while Stormye Everett and Lorena Medeiros each had one 3-pointer.

Otero shot 30 percent from the floor, and were out-rebounded by the Cougars 40-34. A big reason for Otero’s poor shooting was the Cougars’ patented defense, which is ranked among the nation’s top 10.

“ We went to a match-up zone and we haven’t played it much this year and I thought it was an excellent job,” Harnish said. “They are a team that really hurt us off of penetration the last time we played (Otero won xx-xx). The match-up zone really helped us take their penetration away and force them to shoot from the outside. I thought it was a solid defensive effort all night.”

The Cougars asserted themselves quickly. Everett hit the first 3-pointer to put WNCC up 6-2. Kistler followed with a long-range shot with 14 minutes left in the opening half. Then, Davis lit up connecting on three 3-pointers to push the Cougars’ lead to 30-13.

The second half belonged to Everett as the freshman scored 11 points, including seven of the team’s first 10 points. After Everett’s strong start, Kistler and Davis connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to push the lead to 48-23 with six minutes gone in the second half.

Otero, on the other hand, had trouble scoring in the second half. The Rattlers’ first field game came on an old-fashioned 3-point play from Alex Dunn with 17 minutes left. WNCC held Otero scoreless for the next five minutes and the Rattlers didn’t score double-digits in the half until five minutes left in the game on a 3-pointer by Megan Cowden.

WNCC had just two players hit the double figure scoring column, led by Davis with 22 and Everett with 17. Medeiros finished the game with nine points followed by Kistler with eight. Kistler also added four assists, while Everett and Davis each had three steals. Tawny Drexler led the team with seven rebounds.

Otero was led by Bailey Wilkins with 11 points, followed by Dunn with eight points.

WNCC, 23-6, will have one more regular season game left as they host Northeastern Junior College Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. The Plainswomen earned a 52-50 win over the Cougars last month in Sterling, Colo., on a last second shot.

Saturday will also be sophomore appreciation day as WNCC says goodbye to seven sophomores – Drexler, Medeiros, Davis, SeLina Ysac, Michelle Lighthall, Juliana Bassetto and Caley Fisher.

After Saturday, the Cougars will host the Region IX tournament March 6-10. WNCC earned a first round bye and will play Sunday, March 8 at 5 p.m. against the winner of the Western Wyoming Community College and Northwest (Wyo.) College game. The complete bracket can be located on the Region IX website at regionix.wncc.net.

Otero (20-7) 20- 17 – 37

WNCC (23-6) 32 36 – 68

OTERO JUNIOR COLLEGE

Heather Andersen 1, Rachelle Tialavea 4, Ashley Jelly 2, Bailey Wilkins 11, Alex Dunn 8, Angie Andemucio 1, Kari Ameling 2, Mielinda Perry 2, Megan Cowden 6.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Amber Kistler 8, Lorena Medeiros 9, SeLina Ysac 2, Shaquilah Davis 22, Stormye Evereett 17, Janae Willis 3, Tawny Drexler 5, Ashley Burns 2.

Three-pointers: WNCC 8 (Davis 4, Kistler 2, Everett, Medeiros); Otero 4 (Cowden 2, Wilkins, Tialavea).

WNCC's Melo receives honor from AVCA

Western Nebraska Community College volleyball coach Giovana Melo received a special honor from the American Volleyball Coaches Association.

The AVCA announced its Thirty under 30 awards and Melo was one of 30 assistant or head coaches from high school to NCAA Division I to be selected. In fact, Melo is just one of two junior college head coaches to make the “Thirty under 30” special recognition. The other junior college head coach is Caitlin Faulk of Broward College in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Melo never thought she would receive this kind of recognition this early in her coaching career.

“It is an honor to be receiving this award. I am proud to be representing our program and school,” Melo said. “It is pretty exciting but the recognition should not be just mine. I would have not done it without my assistant Nicole [Gonzalez] and my players, who worked really hard to have a successful season, which allowed me to even get nominated for this award.”

Melo was dominated for the award my former Missouri State-West Plains coach Trish Knight. Knight is now in the NJCAA Hall of Fame and just recently accepted the head coaching position at Texas Tech.

“It is special to be nominated by a Hall of Fame coach for the honor,” she said. “She is an excellent coach and has had an extremely successful program at West Plains in many years. I remember when I played she was already their coach and always got them to the final four at Nationals. That is probably a big reason why now she is moving on to be a D-I coach. It is an honor to be nominated by someone like her.”

Melo just completed her first season as the head coach for the Cougars, guiding them to a 59-4 record and a third place finish at the national tournament. WNCC finished third with a thrilling five-game win over Iowa Western Community College.

Melo started her collegiate volleyball career has a setter for the Cougars under former coach Chris Green back in 2001 and 2002, earning second team NJCAA All-American honors her freshman year and first team All-American honors her sophomore year. She helped guide the Cougars to an 104-14 record in two seasons, including a third place finish at nationals in 2001

“I knew she [Trish Knight] remembered me from when I played because she came and talked to me on our first tournament at Iowa Western,” she said. “After that, we have talked in tournaments, meetings, etc. We are not that close, we just have a normal coach's relationship. I have always had a lot of respect for her and her team.”

After WNCC, Melo went on to play for Arizona State University, where she played two seasons, before tearing her ACL in her senior season for the Sun Devils and had to use a red-shirt season. She earned PAC-10 All-Academic honors in 2005.

Melo came to WNCC in April after two years as a graduate assistant and assistant coach at Arizona State.

In the February/March issue of the AVCA magazine “Coaching Volleyball,” Melo said she is taking it slow up the coaching ladder. Melo is just 27 years old.

“I don’t have long-term goals for my career in the sport because I want to take it slow,” she said. “I am just starting as a head coach this year and I still have so much to learn. It is such a huge change to go from a player to a coach. I never thought I would be a head coach as soon, and here I am enjoying every minute of it.”

Melo is currently recruiting for next year’s team and she has some holes to fill since she loses three sophomores – Fatima Balza, who committed to Penn State, Nayka Benitez, who committed to Creighton, and Paloma Alvarez, who will make her college decision in the next month.

So far Melo has signed two players for next season in Emily Hoehn of Kearney Catholic, a 5-foot-6 libero, and Ariel Austin, rightside hitter from Woodland Park, Colo.

The complete list of the AVCA Thirty over 30 listing includes, Lindi Brankowski, assistant coach at Austin Peay State (NCAA DI); Brittany Baum, assistant coach at Wittenberg University (NCAA DIII); Ben Boldt, assistant coach at University of Alabama (NCAA Di); Ryan Campbell, assistant coach at Cornerstone University (NAIA); Caitlin Faulk, head coach at Broward College (JUCO); Becky Fletcher, head men’s and women’s coach at Sunytt (NCAA DIII); Kyle Gamble, assistant coach at Iowa Western Community College (JUCO); Todd Garvey, head coach at Mercy Academy (high school); Chris Gaskill, assistant coach at University of Iowa (NCAA DI); Kelly Greapentrog, head coach at St. John Fisher College (NCAA DIII); Emily Hawthorne, head coach at Zionville High School (high school); Kristina Hernandez, head coach at Hofstra University (NCAA DI); Michael Johnson, assistant head coach at Cal Poly (NCAA DI); GTretchen Killebrew, assistant coach at Seattle University (NCAA D!); Matt Martin, assistant men’s coach at Loyola University-Chicago (NCAA DI and DII); Giovana Melo, head coach Western Nebraska Community College (JUCO); Stephanie Moreno, assistant coach at University of San Diego (NCAA DI); Kelly Morrisroe, assistant coach at Eckerd College (NCAA DII); George Mulry, head coach at Longmeadeo High (high school); Vince Muscat, head coach at Allen Park Inter-City Baptist (high school); Coley Pawlikowski, head coach at North Park University (NCAA DIII); Jessy Roy, assistant coach at Lynn Unviversity (NCAA DII); Lauren Sauer, assistant coach at University of Kentucky (NCAA DI); Jamie Skadeland, head coach at Colorado School of Mines (NCAA DII); Eric Snyder, head coach at Stonehill College (NCAA DII); Holly Strauss-O’Brien, head coach at University of Connecticut (NCAA DI); John Titus, head coach at Parsippany High (high school); Christy Utnage, assistant coach at Xavier University (NCAA DI); J.T. Wenger, assistant coach for UCLA men (DI); Lettie Wilkes head coach of Belmont Abbey College (NCAA DII), and in memoriam David Hildebrandt, head men’s and women’s coach at Elms College (NCAA DIII), who died in a camping accident this summer.

WNCC baseball picks up fourth win, splits with Barton County on Monday

Submitted by By Jeremy Woznick, Scottsbluff Star-Herald

GREAT BEND, Kan. - The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team continued to show flashes of its offensive firepower in earning a doubleheader split against Barton Community College on Monday in Great Bend, Kan.

The Cougars pounded out an 11-7 win in game one before dropping a 13-7 setback in game two. In Sunday's action, WNCC and Barton also split a doubleheader. Barton won 3-0 before WNCC rebounded with a 10-1 win in game two.

WNCC ended its five-game, three-day road trip with three wins. The Cougars are now 4-5 on the season heading into their home opener on Wednesday against the Colorado State University club team at Cleveland Field in Scottsbluff. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m.

"All in all it was a good five games for us," WNCC coach Mike Jones said of his team's trip to Kansas. "I'm pleased with the progress we're making as an offensive team. We continued to put up some runs and I thought our offensive production has been good over the last five games. We played real well the first game [Monday] and in the second game unfortunately we made way too many defensive mistakes and lost momentum in the ball game."

In game one, WNCC plated seven runs in the third inning to take a commanding 7-0 lead. The inning was highlighted by Jason Sloan's three-run double.

After Barton closed within 7-4 at the end of five innings, WNCC scored three more times in the top of the sixth and added another run in the seventh to pull away.

Scottsbluff High School graduate Trace Marsden went 3-for-3 at the plate for the Cougars. Marsden drove in three runs and finished with a double. Aurelio Monteagudo went 2-for-4 with a run batted in while Sloan drove in five.

Tim Kupfner collected his first win of the season on the mound for the Cougars. Kupfner (1-0) went all seven innings. He allowed 11 hits and struck out eight.

WNCC's offense continued to sizzle at the start of game two. After plating a run in the top of the first, the Cougars scored four times in the second to hold a 5-0 advantage. However, Barton plated a run in the bottom of the second before tying the game at 5-5 by scoring four runs in the fourth.

WNCC took back the lead with a pair of runs in the fifth, but Barton exploded for six runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good. Barton added two insurance runs to its total in the sixth.

"We jumped out to an early lead," Jones said. "We made a couple errors in the fourth inning that gave them their four runs. We took the lead again later, but then our bullpen couldn't hold it for us.

"We've got some things to work on, but I think we've shown a lot of good things so far this season as well."

Barton out-hit WNCC 13-8 in the second game. WNCC made four errors defensively.
Gustavo Sanchez took the loss on the mound out of the bullpen. David Castle started the contest and was credited with a no decision. Castle allowed four runs and struck out three in four innings of work.

Josh Parker, Elvis Garcia and Dallas Liptac all finished the game with two hits and two runs batted in each. Parker also had a double.

After being shut out in Sunday's first game, the Cougars responded with a 14-hit attack to win game two. Alex Arias paced the WNCC offense in the game by going 4-for-4 with a triple, three runs batted in and two runs scored. Ronald Miller went 3-for-4 with two runs batted in and three runs scored. Also collecting multiple hits in the game were Marsden and Sloan. Both totaled two hits each.

Ben Doran earned the win on the mound. He allowed one run on five hits in six innings of work. Doran struck out two.

In Sunday's first game, WNCC totaled just four hits. Anthony Paniagua led the way offensively by going 2-for-3.

Enrique Gonzalez took the loss on the mound. The freshman righthander allowed just five hits and struck out four in six innings of work.

Sunday
Game One
WNCC 000 000 0 - 0 4 3
Barton 000 111 x - 3 5 1
LP - Enrique Gonzalez (0-2).
Game Two
WNCC 204 000 4 - 10 14 0
Barton 100 000 0 - 1 5 0
WP - Ben Doran (1-0).
3B - Alex Arias. 2B - Anthony Paniagua, Shane Wade.

Monday
Game One
WNCC 007 003 1 - 11 9 0
Barton 001 030 3 - 7 11 3
WP - Tim Kupfner (1-0).
2B - Jason Sloan, Trace Marsden.
Game Two
WNCC (4-5) 140 020 0 - 7 8 4
Barton 010 462 x - 13 13 1
LP - Gustavo Sanchez (0-1).
2B - Josh Parker.

College and high school girls basketball games on tap for Tuesday at Cougar Palace

It will be a college and high school girls basketball doubleheader at Cougar Palace Tuesday evening.

The Western Nebraska Community College women, who ran their record to 22-6 and secured the right to host next month’s Region IX tournament, will face Otero Junior College at 5 p.m. Then, after the women’s basketball game, the Class B, District 6 girls high school tournament will begin with a first-round contest between Gering High School and Ogallala High School, slated for a 7 p.m. tip-off.

The Cougar women have been playing solid basketball, winning their last six contests. WNCC topped Northeast Nebraska 74-57 on Friday, coming back from a 19-point second half deficit to win by 17 points. WNCC then bounced McCook 80-51 on Saturday.

The Rattlers come into the contest 20-6. The two squads have meet twice times this season. The squads split contests at La Junta, Colo., with WNCC winning the December game 72-49 and Otero winning the January encounter 63-51.

The high school game will see two squads with plenty to play for. The winner advances to the semifinals against the No. 1 seed Alliance Bulldogs at 6 p.m. at Cougar Palace. Gering enters the contest 8-14 and losers of six of their last seven games. Gering came up big, however, on Thursday night, when they topped Scottsbluff 66-65 in overtime.

Ogallala comes into the district game with a 9-10 record, having beat Gering on Saturday 52-40. The Indians have won six of their last 10 games, including falling to 17-3 Holdrege in overtime 71-58.

WNCC softball splits games at Garden City; Cougars blast four home runs

GARDEN CITY, Kan. – The Western Nebraska Community College softball team blasted four home runs on the day as they split a double header with Garden City Community College Sunday afternoon.

The Cougars blasted three home runs in the e opener, including two solo shots from Katie Groves to earn a 5-0 win against the Broncbusters. WNCC wasn’t as fortunate in the second came, falling 7-4.

WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said they played well, but need to play well in both games.

“Game one of the Garden City game, I thought we played very well. We executed on offense and made no defensive mistakes,” she said. “Game two we lost focus and late in the game we tried to make a comeback.”

Kelsey Garner picked up her third win of the year in the opener, as the sophomore pre-season all-American struck out 11 and scattered seven hits in getting the win. Winn-Ratliff said it was nice to see Garner pitch well over the weekend.

“It was good to see Kelsey throw well and get some wins,” she said. “Offensively, we have to be able to execute at all times. But I saw some young ladies do some great things. Katie Groves and Sofia Gomez both did a great job at the plate for us this weekend.”

The Cougars quickly took charge in the opener as Kelly Pearson and Groves blasted back-to-back solo shots in the first inning. Sofia Gomez added to the hit parade in getting a double off the top of the fence for nearly a third straight home run.

Groves, a freshman from Bluffdale, Utah, added a solo shot in the third inning to put WNCC up 3-0. The Cougars added another run in the sixth inning. Alyssa Hickey led off with a single and scored on a double by Adena Hagen.

WNCC’s final run came in the seventh. Groves had a one-out double. Groves came around to score on a 2-out single by Garner for the final margin.

Groves paced the team with a 3-for-4 performance, including two home runs, a double, two RBIs and three runs scored. Pearson went 2-for-4 with a home run, a double, and a run scored, while Adena Hagen went 2-for-3 with a single, double and a run scored.

WNCC started game two with the same offensive intensity as game one. Hagen, the starting centerfielder from Saskatchewan, Canada, led off the game with a home run. The Cougars and Garden City were tied at 2-2 after three innings before Garden City took a 7-2 lead.

WNCC tried some late inning heroics. Tiffany Lookabill started the inning with a single followed by Pearson reaching base on a fielder’s choice. Groves then walked to put two players on base. With two outs, Garner scored Pearson and Groves with a double to cut the lead to 7-4.

Hagen paced the team going 1-for-3 with a home run and a walk, while Tiffany Lookabill went 1-for-1. Garner went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, while Gomez finished the second game going 1-for-2 with an RBI and two stolen bases. Lauryn Smith had two stolen bases in the contest.

Casey Simpson took the loss in the circle, allowing three runs, nine hits and striking out one. Garner finished off the game allowing four runs, zero unearned, while striking out one and allowing two hits.

WNCC, 7-10, will be off for two weeks before facing Barton County on March 6 and then competing in the Cloud County Tournament in Concordia, Kan., March 7-8.

Game 1
WNCC 201 001 1 -- 5 12 0
Garden City 000 000 0 -- 0 7 0
WP -- Kelsey Garner; 2B -- Adena Hagen, Kelly Pearson, Katie Groves, Sofie Gomez, Lauryn Smith; HR -- Groves (2), Pearson.

Game 2
WNCC 101 000 2 -- 4 4 0
Garden City 101 014 -- 7 11 0
LP -- Casey Simpson; 2B – Garner; HR – Hagen.

WNCC baseball splits with Barton County on Sunday

GREAT BEND, Kan. -- The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team split a pair of games Sunday against Barton County Community College.

The Cougars, who won 10-4 against Barton County on Saturday, dropped the first game 3-0 before coming back to win the second game 10-1 behind a 14-hit attack.

WNCC quickly took control in the first game, plating two runs in the first inning and scoring four more in the third for a 6-2 lead. The Cougars scored the first-inning runs on three hits, including an RBI single by Alex Arias, and base hits by Jason Sloan and Ron Miller.

The Cougars scored their four runs in the third inning on four hits. Josh Parker led off the inning with a single. Miller and Arias followed with singles and then Shane Wade had an RBI double to put the Cougars up 6-1.

WNCC put the game away in the seventh inning with other four-run inning on four hits. Parker led off the inning by drawing a walk, followed by a single by Sloan and Miller. With one out, Arias tripled to score two runs and then Anthony Paniagua blasted an RBI double for the final runs of the game.

Arias led the Cougars from the plate, going 4-for-4 with three RBIs, two runs scored and a triple. Miller finished the game going 3-for-4, including three runs scored and two RBIs. Also collecting multiple hits were Scottsbluff’s Trace Marsden with a 2-for-4 day, Sloan going 2-for-2 with two runs scored.

Ben Doran picked up the win, going six innings, while scattering five hits, allowing one run and striking out two.

In the opener, the Cougar bats were quite there, only managing four hits. Barton scored its three runs with single runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. WNCC, however, had a chance in the first inning to score first. Parker opened the game with a single and then stole second and advanced to third where he was stranded.

Paniagua led the Cougars with a 2-for-3 performance. The only other two hits came from the bats of Parker and Aurelio Monteagudo.

Enrique Gonzalez suffered the loss on the mound, going six innings, while scattering five hits. Gonzalez struck out four and walked three in a fine performance in the outing. Gonzalez was just the victim of three Cougar fielding errors.

WNCC, 3-4, will be back in action Monday with another doubleheader against Barton County. The Cougars will then return home for a doubleheader against Colorado State at Cleveland Field on Wednesday.

Game 1
WNCC 000 000 0 – 0 4 3
Barton 000 111 x – 3 5 1
WP – Matt Robertson, LP – Gonzalez (0-2).

Game 2
WNCC (3-4) 204 000 4 – 10 14 0
Barton 100 000 0 – 1 5 0
WP – Doran (1-0), LP – Michael Cotter; 2B – Paniagua, Wade; 3B – Arias.

WNCC women top McCook, earn right to host regional tournament

The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team entered this weekend needing three things to happen in order for the Cougars to host next month's Region IX tournament.

Part one of that equation happened Friday night as the team came back from a 19-point deficit to register a 74-57 win against Northeast Community College.

Saturday night, the Cougar women finished off the magic by registering an 80-51 victory over McCook Community College. The win gave the Cougars the right to host regionals after the team won the weekend games by the required margin of victory – 15 points – and then won the coin flip late Friday night. WNCC women's coach Dave Harnish said this team earned the right to host regionals, overcoming enormous odds.

"It was a little unexpected. I thought we played well the last two or three weeks. We have been practicing a lot better," he said. "Other than that game we should have won done at Sterling, we have played well the last two or three weeks. Knowing that going into this weekend playing well, I thought we had a chance. To have it happen is kind of a surprise in the way it did. We had to come together and win both games by 15 and then win the coin flip. One of those three things could have went down, but everything came in our favor. It is a good achievement for the girls because they worked hard the last two or three weeks. I am very proud of accomplishing this."

Saturday's game wasn't a perfectly played game for the Cougars. A big contributor to that was the team didn't have the normal legs that they had on Friday because of how hard they had to play to comeback to beat Northeast. Saturday, however, the women left little doubt who the superior team was.

"The key tonight was the first half. It was important for us to jump on them early and get a lead at halftime, which took a lot of relief off," Harnish said. "We played terrible in the second half. It was a situation where I think we were tired from the night before and we lost some of our legs and not getting back on defense. Luckily, we played a very good first half, got the big lead, and were able to keep that."

McCook's Britney Bunker made an early 3-pointer to keep the Indians in the game, down by one, 4-3. After that, the Cougars heated up, going on a 17-0 run to race to a 21-4 lead. The Cougars used a strong inside game and outside shooting from Caley Fisher, who canned two 3-pointers and a trey by Stormye Everett. Amber Kistler finished off the run with an offensive putback.

McCook never could put together back-to-back buckets in the first half as WNCC raced to a 43-16 lead.

McCook played better in the second half scoring 35 points, including 11 from Bunker in that period. WNCC, however, continued flexing it's offensive muscles with an inside-outside game that was unstoppable. SeLina Ysac buried three 3-pointers in the second half and Lorena Medeiros had a trey to help keep the margin of victory over the 15 points the Cougars needed to host regionals.

Five Cougars finished in double figures led by Shaquilah Davis with 16 points, Kistler with 12, Ysac and Everett with 11, and Tawny Drexler with 10. All 10 Cougars saw action and scored in the contest.

McCook was paced by Bunker's 20 points. No other McCook finished with double-digit scoring.

Harnish said the team didn't shoot the ball well, but they got the win. That was the most important part.

"I don't think we shot the ball well overall. The second half was a sloppy second half," he said. "The bottom line was that we had to win by 15 and regardless what the stats showed, the girls went out and did that. Winning the coin flip was huge. That all doesn't mean we won the regional tournament, but it is nice to be able to host it and play on your home court now."

WNCC will next be in action Tuesday evening when they entertain Otero Junior College at 5 p.m., followed by the last regular season home game against Northeastern Junior College Saturday at 1 p.m.

The Region IX tournament begins March 6 and runs for five days.

McCook 16 35 – 51
WNCC (22-6) 43 37 – 80
MCCOOK
Michelle Price 7, Kylie Berry 2, Keri Novacek 3, Britney Bunker 20, Emmalee Fladland 9, Skylar Johnson 3, Julia Hale 4, Tara Wille 1
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Amber Kistler 12, Lorna Medeiros 5, SeLina Ysac 11, Shaquilah Davis 16, Stormye Everett 11, Janae Willis 2, Tawny Drexler 10, Caley Fisher 8, Ashley Burns 1, Juliana Bassetto 4.

NCC men fight back for 79-75 win over McCook

The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team captured its sixth consecutive win, coming back from a 10-point deficit to topple McCook Community College 79-75 Saturday night.

The win was the Cougars 23^rd of the season, but more importantly keeps the Cougars unbeaten in the East Sub-region with one sub-region game left to go – Tuesday night at North Platte Community College.

WNCC men's coach Brian Joyce said it is hard to go undefeated in any sub-region.

"That is a hard thing to do and no other team in our region has done it so far. We have a chance on Tuesday to go undefeated. That is not an easy thing to do for sure," Joyce said. "North Platte is always tough to beat at home and they have had one of the best records all year of anybody in our region. I think it will be a good game, a competitive game, and I think our guys are excited to go on the road and play."

For much of the contest Saturday night, it looked as if McCook were going to spoil the Cougar's run of an undefeated sub-region. McCook completed dominated the last 15 minutes of the first half. WNCC held a 13-11 lead early on a Larry Brown 3-pointer. After that, Alonso Lewis drilled a trey to put McCook up 14-13.

The Indians pushed the lead to nine points with 3:50 to play in the half on a Ronnell Grant bucket and were up 46-37 with under 30 seconds to play before Brown made a bucket to send the Cougars into the locker room trailing 46-39.

McCook led by as much as 12 points in the second half and actually held a 6-point lead with seven minutes to play. WNCC finally woke up as Danny Smith sliced the lead to one point, 64-63 with just under six minutes to play. Scott Bamforth than gave the Cougars their first lead of the game with two free throws since early in the first half, 66-65.

The lead jockeyed back and forth as McCook held a 73-70 lead on a DeShawn Howard bucket. WNCC came roaring back as Brown hit a clutch field goal and the Bamforth scored his fifth 3-pointer of the game to put WNCC up 75-73 with a minute to play.

McCook tied the game at 75 on two Ronnell Grant free throws, but Chris Hamblin scored with 22 seconds to play and after McCook missed a shot, Brown was fouled with 4.9 seconds to play and hit the clinching free throws.

"McCook did a really good job coming in here and playing hard and taking it at us," Joyce said. "Last night's game took a little bit out of us so it took a little while for us to get going. I think our depth was a big factor tonight. We push our guys so hard in practice so that they are not so stressed out in a game and I think in pressure situations, our guys really concentrate and handle things how we work in practice. I thought our guys did a really good job when the pressure was on in making decisions."

WNCC had two players in double figures, led by Bamforth's 23 points. Francisco Cruz finished with 14 points while Brown had 13.

WNCC will next be in action Tuesday when they travel to North Platte, before finishing the regular season with a home contest against Northeastern Junior College on Saturday at 3 p.m.

McCook 46 29 – 75
WNCC (23-5) 39 40 – 79
MCCOOK
Javoun Martin 3, Trey Mosby 16, Alonzo Louis 11, DeShawn Howard 11, Ronnell Grant 16, Ray Robinson 10, Marcus Landry 2, John Hill 6.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Lloyd Hickinson 2, Tarell Clark 7, Chris Hamblin 8, Scott Bamforth 23, Francisco Cruz 14, Sedrick McBounds 3, Larry Brown 13.

WNCC softball splits doubleheader with Seward County

LIBERAL, Kan. - The Western Nebraska Community College softball team split a doubleheader at Seward County Community College on Saturday in Liberal, Kan., claiming game one in eight innings 7-6, before dropping a 10-2 setback in game two.

"We battled back to get a win against their No. 1 [pitcher] in the first game," WNCC coach Maria Winn-Ratliff said. "It was a win that was a very good for our ball club. But in the second game, we couldn't maintain any consistency. We have to learn to be more consistent."

WNCC had plenty of offensive heroes in the first-game win as the Cougars belted 12 hits in a game that saw the Cougars pick up some clutch hits.

The Cougars trailed 5-2 entering the sixth before plating three runs to tie the game at 5-5. Both teams scored a run each in the seventh. The Cougars' Atencio got the base hit that put WNCC up 6-5 before Barton tied it in the bottom of the frame. The Cougars took control in the eighth. Hagen led off with a single and scored on a Katie Groves base hit for what proved the winning run.

Adena Hagen and Sofia Gomez both went 3-for-5 at the plate. Gomez drove in a pair of runs with three singles, while Hagen finished with two singles, two runs scored, a double and a stolen base. In addition, Kelly Pearson went 2-for-5 with a home run, while Tonya Atencio went 1-fo2 with an RBI.

Kelsey Garner picked up her first win of the season in the circle. The sophomore allowed four earned runs and struck out nine in eight innings.

WNCC couldn't muster any offense in the second game, totaling just seven hits. Hagen, Groves, Atencio and Casey Simpson each collected a single, while Gomez went 2-for-3 with two singles,

Freshman Casey Simpson took the loss in the circle, allowing four earned runs and seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. Stephanie Townsend allowed two earned runs and struck out three in relief.

WNCC, now 6-9 on the season, will be back in action Sunday with a doubleheader at Garden City Community College.