WNCC baseball drops two to Garden City on Saturday

PUEBLO, Colo. -- The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team found the going tough against Garden City Community College Saturday in Pueblo, Colo.

The Cougars walked 12 batters in game one falling 14-6 to the Broncbusters. The Cougars then held a late lead in game two, before giving up four runs and falling 5-2.

"Today's games boiled down to starting pitchers. Rodil Martinez had a really bad outing where he had trouble throwing strikes and put us in a bad position in the first inning of game one," WNCC coach Mike Jones said. "We were able to come back offensively in the first game and got some runs and got the game close. The bullpen just couldn't hold on and let it slip away late.

"The second game was much different. Julio Davila, even though he walked too many guys, he still did a good job. We were winning the ball game when he came out, unfortunately again, we went to the bullpen and it slipped away from us. All in all, game one was a struggle with a fight from the beginning, and game two was a much better time."

WNCC got behind the eight ball early as starting pitcher Rodil Martinez lasted just a third of an inning as he walked four and gave up-four earned runs as Garden City held a 6-0 lead. WNCC bounced back scoring two runs each in the third, fourth and fifth inning to slice the lead to 9-6, but Garden City plated five runs in the sixth inning to seal the game.

Martinez took the loss on the mound. John Bravard threw 2 2/3 innings in relieve of Martinez. The freshman from Lyons, Colo., gave up four runs on five hits, while striking out one. Sidney Jones finished the game, going three innings and giving up six runs and three hits. Sidney Jones walked six and struck out two.

Offensively, Oscar Rodriquez led the way with a 3-for-4 performance with two RBIs. Elvis Garcia finished the game with two hits, including a double. Shane Wade also contributed a double and two RBIs.

The second game was a much better performance for the Cougars. Garden City quickly took a 1-0 lead before WNCC bounced back with two runs in the fourth inning for a 2-1 lead. The Broncbusters scored a single run in the fifth and three more in the sixth for the win.

Julio Davila started the game as he went four inning, allowing just one run. Davila walked six, struck out three and allowed three hits. Carlos Luzon took the loss, throwing 1 1/3 innings. Luzon, a freshman from Venezuela, allowed three runs on one hit. He also walked four.

Guernsey-Sunrise's David Castle threw two-thirds of an inning, allowing two hits and a run. Castle entered the game with the bases loaded.

WNCC managed just three hits in game two. Josh Parker ahd the big hit for the Cougars as he belted a double. The other two hits came from JC Morales and Rodriquez.

Jones said these games are learning contests for his squad.

"The first game we made a lot of mistakes. We didn't pitch well. We didn't play very good defense. We were behind the pitchers. We made some base running mistakes. We really made a lot of mistakes in game one," he said. "That is fine because we are going to learn from those mistakes and continue to work on those stuff. It is better to make the mistakes know then later in the season. We are OK with that.

"in the second ball game it was a much cleaner ball game. We played really good defense. We are going to see a lot of progress coming up next week when we get a chance to play again."

WNCC will return to action this weekend when they face Barton Community College and Pratt Community College on the road in Kansas next weekend.

Game One
WNCC 002 220 0 -- 6 9 3
Garden City 600 305 0 -- 14 9 2
LP -- R. Martinez; 2B -- Garcia, Wade.

Game Two
WNCC (0-4) 000 200 0 -- 2 3 0
Garden City 100 013 x -- 5 6 3
LP -- Luzon; 2B -- Parker

WNCC men top Northeast Nebraska 57-53

The Western Nebraska Community College men's basketball team used an 11-0 run to end the first half in taking down Northeast Community College Hawks 57-53 in a defensive battle at Cougar Palace Saturday afternoon.

The last time these two East Sub-region opponents met a month ago, Northeast claimed a 78-76 win at the buzzer. Saturday, the Cougars received a 17-point effort from Geddes Robinson and put together a team workman-like effort in picking up their 16th, and third straight win of the season.

WNCC coach Russ Beck was extremely with pleased with the defensive effort that his team showed. The Cougars forced 16 turnovers and out-rebounded the Hawks 42-35, including getting 27 defensive boards.

" We did a good job defensively, especially down the stretch," he said. "They got an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and that is when we have to honker down and just get a rebound. Overall the rebounding was good."

WNCC and Northeast were definitely hooked in a defensive stalemate in the first half as the Hawks held a 21-20 lead with four minutes to play in the opening 20 minutes. That was when the Cougar game picked it up another notch, going on an 11-0 run that was highlighted by a Francisco Cruz 3-pointer and four buckets by Brylle Kamen for a 31-21 halftime lead.

"You win games by the way you start and finish halves," Beck said. "We really got fired up with our ball pressure and it lead to easy baskets for us."

The Cougars kept the pressure on early in the second half as Andre Marone had four points and Robinson slammed home a dunk for a 37-27 lead. Northeast battled back, going o9n a 9-2 run to slice the lead to 42-40.

The Cougars bounced back, going on a 10-0 run of their own, highlighted by a Kamen dunk and field goal to push the lead back to 42-32 with 4:14 to play. After Northeast fought back, slicing the lead to 52-48, Kamen stole the ball and slammed it home for a 54-48 lead.

Northeast came back, slicing the lead to 54-53 as Jayvin Stevens grabbed an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and put it back in the hole with 26.1 second to play. WNCC added a single free throw by O'Rion Hughes with 19 seconds to play. The Hawks then missed a 3-pointer from the corner and Joe Stock was fouled with six-tenths to play to seal the win.

Kamen and Robinson had huge games in the paint for the Cougars. RObinson finished with six rebounds, while Kamen had eight. Beck said that Kamen's energy on the court keeps the team fired up.

"Brylle gives us great energy and emotion. Some people might misinterpret that at being selfish," Beck said. "That is what he needs to do to help the team and give us that energy and emotion because he really gets this team up. He had some good plays down the stretch. He is a talented player and glad to have him. If he plays that hard every game, we are going to be in the games."

Robinson and Cruz were the only Cougars to finish in double figures. Cruz pitched in 13 points, while grabbing nine rebounds in the win.

Northeast had three players in double figures. Zach Towle, Dol Kutey and Thomas Colbert all had 11 points. Towle had three 3-pointers for the Hawks, including two late back-to-back treys.

WNCC will next be in action Tuesday night as they host McCook Community College at 7:30 p.m. The women's game will precede the men's contest at 5:30. The McCook game is also Hoops For Hunger night as individuals who bring a non-parishable food item will get $1 off their admission.

Beck said Tuesday's contest will be a battle for sub-region seedings. McCook defeated North Platte last week.

"This is one of the biggest points in our season so far. McCook will come in fired up because we were able to get one on their home floor," he said. "They are talented and they have good guards, they have athletic posts. They are going to try to attack us with their quickness. We just have to play our game Tuesday night as well against North Platte. We can't fall subject to quick shots. We need to run our offense and execute, and we have to box out. I think ball pressure has been a big key for our wins lately, and we have to keep doing that."

Northeast (12-14) 21 32 -- 53
WNCC (16-10) 31 26 -- 57
NORTHEAST
Brad Pieper 6, Zach Towle 11, Matthew Julkes 3, Nicholas Mabbutt 3, Dol Kutey 11, Jayvin Stevens 8, Thomas Culbert 11.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Geoffrey Firmin 2, Andre Marone 4, Saul Torres 2, O'Rion Hughes 3, Joe Stock 3, Francisco Cruz 13, Brylle Kamen 8, Geddes Robinson 17.

WNCC women secure No. 1 seed from East sub-region with win over Northeast Nebraska 71-69

If ever the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team needed a win, Saturday was the day to get it.

The Cougars, behind a gutsy defensive performance late in the game, secured the No. 1 seed from the East sub-region in registering a heart-pounding 71-69 win over Northeast Community College. The Cougars are now 3-0 in sub-region play and 19-7 overall.

WNCC coach Dave Harnish definitely was feeling a little better about his team after Saturday’s huge win.

“Definitely we needed win, especially losing three straight home games and ruined our confidence level, so from that standpoint it is huge,” Harnish said. “This is a step forward and the girls have to feel a little bit better about it. From the second point, it seals up the number one seed from the sub-region, which is the first goal of the year. As much as we struggled, at least we won the games we needed to win in our sub-region. Clinching the number one seed will be huge going into the regional tournament. Hopefully in the next two weeks we can get things ironed out and get better for regionals.”

Kelli Culver, the freshman from Colorado Springs, Colo., was just one of the many Cougars that stepped up their game. Culver finished with 11 points, but it was her two second-half treys that ignited the Cougars. Culver said if feels nice to win at home after three straight defeats on their home court.

“It is pretty big win because we have been on a losing streak for a long time,” she said. “We needed this for our coach because he has been getting mad at us and we needed this to boost our confidence.”

Definitely the Cougars needed a win of this magnitude. But once again, the Cougars had to battle from behind. This time, though, the defense played tough down stretch for the win.

“We seem to do get behind every game where we dig ourselves holes like we did tonight getting down by eight or 10,” Harnish said. “We have did that in every game and then we fight the last four and five minutes to get back into it. For some reason we struggle for 30 to 35 minutes in the game and then the last five minutes is the best part of our game. “

The Cougars definitely played some tough defense the last five minutes. They also hit some clutch shots. And, a lot of different Cougars had a hand in securing the East Sub-region championship on the afternoon.

Yuki Morimoto was the thorn in the Hawks’ side on the day. The freshman from Tokyo, Japan, finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, but it was her rebound with 6.2 second left that sealed the win for the Cougars.

Up until that point, it was anyone’s game. WNCC trailed by eight points in the second half on two different occasions, 48-40 and then later at 55-47. Both times it was a 3-pointer that stopped the Hawks’ run. Culver ripped her second of the game with 16 minutes left. Then, Stormye Everett buried a trey to cut the lead to 55-50.

Everett’s trey sparked a comeback that gave the Cougars the lead since midway in the first half. WNCC took the lead on a Culver 3-pointer, 57-56, with 8:34 to play. Northeast kept battled back taking a 66-63 lead with 3:30 to play on back-to-back 3-pointers by Sofie Lundberg and Christine Fischer.

The Cougars tied the game as Everett stole the ball and converted on a 3-point play. Then, with 1:38 to play, Amber Kistler stole the ball and found a open Tiffany Moorer to put the Cougars up 68-66.

Lundberg, who ignited for 36 points in the team’s first meeting a month ago, drained a 3-pointer to put the Hawks back up 69-68. The game was defensive after that as Northeast missed a shot-clock beating 3-pointer with 18.3 seconds and Kistler was fouled with 14 seconds to play. The Bayard graduate, who converted both free throws to put WNCC up 70-69.

Northeast’s Dawn Bonnell then drove the right-side and missed an off-balanced lay-up and Morimoto came down with the game-winning rebound.

Culver said that last minute defensive pressure was crucial in the Cougar’s 19^th win of the season.

“That helped a lot [defense] with our motivation and helped us win the game” she said. “Our confidence rose a lot after this game.”

The Cougars had three players finish in double figures. Morimoto led the way with 16 points followed by Everett with 14 second-half points, while Culver chipped in 11. The Cougars also got nine points from Thais Pinto and six points from Ariane Brown.

Northeast was led by Lundberg’s 20 points and four 3-pointers, while Bonnell had 19 points and three 3-pointers.

The big key in the game was shooting, where the Cougars show 48 percent from the field and also blistered the nets from 3-point range, making 56 percent of the shots (5 of 9).WNCC also minimized their turnovers with 15. They also out-rebounded the Hawks 36-27 as Everett pulled down eight, and Morimoto had seven. Kistler finished with five assists and two steals on the day.

The Cougars will be back on the court Tuesday when they host McCook Community College in another sub-region contest. Harnish said that that game doesn’t mean much in the sub-region race, but it means a lot in the team improving for the regional tourney in March.

“That game doesn’t matter because we now have the number one seed guaranteed,” he said. “Right know we have to focus on getting better the next two weeks. We need to take it one game at a time. We have four games left before regionals and we just have to get better and get ready for regional tournament.”

Northeast (19-9) 37 32 – 69
WNCC (19-7) 35 36 – 71
NORTHEAST NEBRASKA
Christine Fischer 7, Dawn Bonnell 19, Shelby Hunger 4, Zena Nastloski 4, Sofia Lundberg 20, Carolyn Taite 10, Stephanie Taite 4, Kaneisha Williams 1.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Amber Kistler 4, Stormye Everett 14, Shelby Campbell 2, Yuki Morimoto 16, Ariane Brown 4, Tiffany Moorer 6, Michelle Glaze 4, Thais Pinto 6, Kelli Culver 11, Khayla Gladney 1.

Cougar baseball drops two on Friday

Submitted by Jeremy Woznick, Star-Herald Sports Reporter

PUEBLO, Colo. - The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team received two strong starting pitching performances in its season-opening doubleheader against Garden City Community College Friday in Pueblo, Colo., but it wasn't enough as the Cougars let leads in both games slip away.

WNCC held a 6-3 lead in game one before Garden City scored four times in the bottom of the sixth to escape with a 7-6 win. In game two, the Cougars couldn't make a 2-0 lead hold up as Garden City plated five runs in the bottom of the sixth to post a 5-3 victory.

"They were really good ball games to open up with," WNCC coach Mike Jones said. "I thought we got solid starting pitching in both games. We just got tired and panicked a little bit late in the games. We'll definitely learn from that and make adjustments."

In the opener, Armani Gonzalez pitched five solid innings to earn a no decision. Gonzalez allowed three runs on three hits. He struck out three and walked two.

Offensively, four different Cougars had multiple-hit performances. Jason Sloan, Camilo Baldelomar, Oscar Rodriguez and Jared Baros all finished with two hits each. Baldelomar had a triple with a run batted in, while Sloan, Rodriguez and Baros each had a double. Baros knocked in three runs and Sloan drove in one.

The Cougars finished with nine hits in the game.

David Castle took the loss on the hill out of the bullpen. The four runs he allowed were all unearned. Castle struck out one and allowed three hits.

In game two, Tim Beard gave the Cougars another solid start on the mound. He allowed just two runs on two hits in five innings of work. He struck out one and walked two in the no decision.

WNCC plated two runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 2-0 lead, but Garden City erupted for five runs in the bottom half of the frame. The Cougars added a lone run in the top of the seventh.

"Both Armani and Tim came out and threw very well for us. That was very encouraging," Jones said. "We really settled in early in both games, but we let both of them slip away from us."

The Cougars had just three hits in game two. Shane Wade drove in a run with a triple, while Sloan and Trace Marsden each had singles.

Carlos Palomo took the loss on the mound. He allowed two runs on two hits and struck out one in a third of an inning. JC Morales finished out the game on the mound for the Cougars. He allowed one run on one hit and struck out one.

The two teams will be right back in action today in another doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for high noon.

Rodil Martinez will start on the mound for WNCC in the first game and Julio Davila will take the ball in game two.

Game One
WNCC 020 220 0 - 6 9 2
Garden City 000 304 x - 7 7 1
LP - David Castle (0-1).
3B - Camilo Baldelomar. 2B - Jason Sloan, Oscar Rodriguez, Jared Baros.

Game Two
WNCC (0-2) 000 002 1 - 3 3 2
Garden City (3-0) 000 005 x - 5 4 1
LP - Carlos Palomo (0-1).
3B - Shane Wade.

WNCC women fall to Eastern Wyoming 68-66

The Eastern Wyoming College women’s basketball team came into Cougar Place to face Western Nebraska Community College with one objective on their mind and that was to walk off of Ron Brillhart Court with a W.

Mission accomplished as the bus ride back to Torrington, Wyo., had some happy Lancers aboard as they had the right amount of swagger in their game after posting a huge 68-66 win over the Cougars Thursday night.

In fact, there wasn’t one time the Lancers were one bit intimidated by the Cougar’s recent success as they hit the shots when they needed in posting their 12^th of the season.

Noelle Jones was just one of the heroes for the Lancers on the night. The Burns, Wyo., graduate finished with three clutch 3-pointers, including back-to-back treys in the second half. Jones finished with 15 points on the night and couldn’t be more elated with the win.

“This win feels awesome. This is the first time in any sport that we have beat WNCC for a couple of years,” Jones said. “We took good shots and hit some really big shots in the second half. We rebounded well and moved the ball really well, which was something we needed to do.”

Another big key for the smaller Lancers against a taller Cougar team was rebounding. WNCC won the rebounding total 55-48, but it was the Lancers’ 20 offensive rebounds that were big factors in the contest.

“I think rebounding won us the game,” Jones said. “If we wouldn’t have had some of those offensive rebounds, we wouldn’t have got those fouls and wouldn’t have gotten to the free throw line. Those foul shots at the end were huge for us.”

WNCC never really could find that right mixture on the court to run off a string of points. WNCC coach Dave Harnish said it is frustrating watching his team struggle considering they had such a fine first semester. This was the Cougars second straight defeat and they are now 5-5 in the second semester.

“We didn’t shot well tonight and give credit Eastern Wyoming, we just can’t stop the ball,” he said. “The bottom line is defensively. The bottom line is we don’t have any defensive intensity because we allow people to penetrate on us, we allow people to shoot threes on us, and we dig ourselves in holes.”

The contest was actually a battle of two evenly matched teams. The two Highway 26 rivals were tied 24-24 late in the first half on back-to-back buckets by Amber Kister moments after Jones’ nailed her first 3-pointer of the game. Then Lancers finished the half leading 27-26 at intermission.

WNCC came out of the locker room with some new life as Kistler buried a trey and moments later Khayla Gladney put back a bucket for a 34-33 lead. Jones brought the Lancers back as she buried back-to-back 3-pointers and moments later Kylie Erickson knocked home a 3-pointer to give the Lancers their biggest lead of the game 50-40 with 11 minutes left.

The Lancers continued playing strong as they went to the free throw line a number of times to go ahead 53-45 with 7:30 to play. WNCC didn’t stop fighting as they went on a 10-0 run to take a 55-53 lead 4:22 to play as Stormye Everett had eight of the 10 points.

After that, both teams traded baskets as Kistler recorded two clutch buckets, including two points off an offensive rebound to take a 62-61 lead with 1:14 to play. EWC scored the next five points as Jones had a bucket and then Jessica Brown and Koel Hall combined on three free throws.

Yuki Morimoto brought the Cougars back with a 3-pointer that rattled. WNCC had a prime chance to win the game late as EWC’s Marque Lunderman missed two free throws with 11.1 seconds remaining, but on the Cougars’ ensuing possession, they turned the ball over. Danielle Brown then hit one free throw and a half-court heave from the Cougars was just off the mark.

The Lancers had just two players in double figures as Jessica Brown lead all scorers with 25 points. She also pulled down 10 rebounds and had two steals. Jones finished with her 15 points, including 7 of 12 from the free throw line and three 3-pointers.

The Lancers also got clutch scoring from Danielle Brown and Krystal Pittman who each finished with seven points.

The Cougars placed five players in double digits. Kistler led the way with 17 points, while Everett came off the bench to score 13 points. Morimoto, Gladney and Tiffany Moorer each had 10 points. Morimoto finished with a double-double with 11 rebounds.

Both squads will be back in action Saturday. The Lancers will host Little Big Horn at 5:30 p.m., while the Cougars will entertain Northeast (Neb.) Community College at 1 p.m.

Jones said that the Lancers are playing well right now, especially after they took down Sheridan College and Northwest Wyoming last week at home.

“I think we are peaking right now and I think we are getting better and better as the year goes on,” she said. “We need to peak at the Region IX tournament and I think we will. Everybody contributed tonight and it was a whole team effort.”

EWC (12-12) 27 41 – 68
WNCC (18-7) 26 40 – 66
EASTERN WYOMING
Krystal Pittman 7, Koel Hall 3, Jessica Brown 25, April Johnson 2, Noelle Jones 15, Marque Lunderman 2, Danielle Brown 7, Sarah Smith 3, Kylie Erickson 4.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Amber Kistler 17, Stormye Everett 13, Shelby Campbell 4, Yuki Morimoto 10, Tiffany Moorer 10, Michelle Glaze 1, Kelli Carver 1, Khayla Gladney 10.

WNCC out-rebounds Casper in securing 73-67 win

Brylle Kamen’s enthusiasm on the court was contagious for the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team as they picked up a huge, emotional 73-67 win Tuesday night at Cougar Palace.

The win was especially huge since the Thunderbirds beat the Cougars three weeks ago 75-56 and did it pretty easy. Tuesday night, the Cougars were insistent on picking up the win, which they did behind Kamen’s double-double of 18 points and 12 rebounds.

“This win is very big. We haven’t won a big game for two months now,” a jubilant Kamen, who electrified the crowd with his gutsy play, said. “We are very happy right now. We went to Casper and lost. We have went almost everywhere else and lost, so it is a relief to win this game. I am very happy tonight.”

Actually, it wasn’t just one person that stepped up tonight; it was a team effort as three players recorded double-figure scoring. Kamen led the way with his 18 points followed by Geddes Robinson with 17 and Francisco Cruz with 14.

Another reason for the Cougars’ 15^th win of the season was rebounding. WNCC out-rebounded the 19-6 Casper Thunderbirds 52-39. WNCC coach Russ Beck definitely was elated to see the Cougars step up in that category.

“It doesn’t always matter how big you are. It matters about staying in a stance, turning and locating a man, making sure you know your defensive assignment and making sure you are boxing out. We played a lot of zone at their place and the problem with zone is sometimes we don’t identify who we need to box out. We played predominately man tonight except for a few possessions and we actually knew who we needed to box out and track down that rebound.”

WNCC dominated the 16 minutes of the first half, racing to a 10-2 lead before Casper came back to take an 18-13 lead on a 4-point play from James Hayden. The Cougars didn’t panic, going on a 12-2 run to take a 25-20 lead on four points each from Robinson and Cruz.

Casper sliced the lead to 28-27 late, but a Joe Stock 3-pointer with 47 seconds left in the first half gave the Cougars a 32-27 halftime lead.

The second half was a nail-biter to the end as WNCC held five-point leads early in the half, the last time at 45-40. Casper came back to take a 45-44 lead on a 3-point play from Robert Mayes. The lead didn’t last long as the Cougars zipped to a 51-47 lead behind five straight points from Robinson.

Casper cut the deficit to a single point on a Art Steward offensive putback with 3:40 to play. Kamen, however, got the Cougar fans excited with some spirited play with a bucket with 3 minutes to play. Kamen later sank two free throws with 41.9 seconds to play to put WNCC up 69-65.

WNCC kept playing strong as Joe Stock picked up a big steal and then nailed one of two free throws with 18.1 seconds left and a 70-65 lead. Steward hit a bucket with 12.4 seconds remaining. After Cruz made it a 4-point game, Casper missed a 3-pointer and Stock skied to get the rebound and converted two free throws to ice the game.

Kamen said his team stepped up two the challenge and played 40 minutes of basketball.

“Since we are losing so much, coach just wants to emphasize key parts of the game like defense, boxing out and rebounding,” he said. “We gave our best effort today in rebounding. We did a good job because we won the rebounding battle.”

The Cougars, 15-10, will return back to action on Saturday when they face Northeast (Neb.) Community College in a sub-region contest with tip-off slated for 3 p.m. The last time the two squads met, back on Jan. 23, Northeast won 78-76 on a buzzer-beater.

Kamen said this win will do a lot for confidence heading into Saturday’s important contest.

“Saturday is a sub-region game and we already lost two sub-region games so we can’t lose any more,” he said. “We need to play big defense and rebounding. This is confidence and momentum to come into Saturday’s game.”

Casper (19-7) 27 40 – 67
WNCC (15-10) 32 41 – 73
CASPER
Art Steward 21, Brandon Walton 11, Abner Kamps 2, James Hayden 6, Nikola Kovac 4, Cameron Howard 11, Robert Mayes 7, Antonio DiMiaria 5.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Geoffery Firmin 5, Saul Torres 5, O’Rion Hughes 4, Joe Stock 8, Francisco Cruz 14, Brylle Kamen 18, Ritchie Mundende 2, Geddes Robinson 17.

WNCC women's comeback comes up short against Casper

The Western Nebraska Community College outscored Casper College 24-12 in the final seven minutes of the game, but it wasn’t enough as the Thunderbirds held on to an 84-79 win Tuesday night at Cougar Palace.

In fact, the difference in the game was Casper’s 8-0 run at the start of the game topped by cold early shooting by the Cougars. Through all the adversity the Cougars had early one, they kept playing and made a valiant late-game run, slicing the lead to four points on a Kelli Carver 3-pointer with 32 seconds to play.

But, the upset big against the No. 19-ranked Thunderbirds fell short.

Hemingford’s Shelby Campbell had a big reason for the Cougars comeback from 17-points down. The smallest player on the court knocked home two 3-pointers, the first with five minutes left and then another with a minute to play to bring the Cougars back to 79-73.

Campbell also added a drive along the baseline and then an underhanded, reverse lay-up to excite the team on the comeback. She finished with 15 points, including 3 of 3 from beyond the arc.

Campbell said this was a tough contest to take, especially with the comeback the team had.

“We should have brought that momentum the first half but we dug ourselves a hole and it was a tough hole to get out of,” she said. “We worked really hard the last seven minutes and I think all the girls came together as one because we wanted and needed this win.”

Campbell, though was just one of three Cougars to finish in double figures. Yuki Morimoto lead the way with 20 points, including four 3-pointers, while Amber Kistler tossed in 10 points and one trey.

The Cougars also got clutch play from other players as well. Khayla Gladney came off the bench to score eight points, while Thais Pinto added seven and Carolina Alves had six.

The key in the game was Casper’s ability to knock home the 3-pointers, nailing seven treys for the game. The Thunderbirds hit five 3-pointers in the first half along to run to a 42-32 halftime lead. Lindsey Fearing paced Casper with 30 points, including 6 of 9 shooting from beyond the arc. Samira Van Grinsven also chipped in 18 points.

Campbell said it was tough to defend their big girls popping 3-pointers, but in the second half, they held them in check by playing hard defense.

“It was pretty hard to stop their tall 3-point shooters, but as long as we got a hand up in their face we could stop them. We just need to play hard defense,” she said. “Coach actually told us at halftime that we didn’t have much of a defense and that was why we were down. We brought our heads together and came to the conclusion that we had to kick it into gear and play as a team.”

Even though the Cougars lost the contest, the team picked up huge confidence, especially playing with sophomore starter Stormye Everett, who is out with an injury.

“We worked really hard and the chemistry was there. We were working together and we trusted each other and that was huge,” Campbell said. “I think we found our chemistry again. I think it will only get better from here.”

The Cougars will found out if they continue that second-half chemistry Thursday night when they host Eastern Wyoming College at 7 p.m.

Casper (23-3) 42 42 – 84
WNCC (18-6) 32 47 – 79
CASPER COLLEGE
Sherece Huddling 9, Samira Van Grinsven 18, Shanice Billington 9, Yianna Nadeau 2, Megan Wilson 8, Lindsey Fearing 30, Juliana Paunovic 8.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Amber Kistler 10, Shelby Campbell 15, Yuki Morimoto 20, Ariane Brown 2, Tiffany Moorer 4, Carolina Alves 6, Madison Keller 2, Michelle Glaze 2, Thais Pinto 7, Kelli Culver 3, Khayla Gladney 8.

WNCC baseball team opens the season this weekend at Garden City, Kan.

Western Nebraska Community College baseball coach Mike Jones is not expecting a lot of home runs hit when the Cougars open the season this weekend on the road.

Instead, Jones is looking at this year’s team to be strong defensively with plenty of pitching. Offensively, well, he is hoping that their speed on the bases and executing the small things will five the Cougars the right chemistry this season.

“This year looks like it will be a fun year. We have a group of guys that we enjoy coaching and are fun to be around. They like to compete but at the same time they have a lot of fun while they compete,” he said. “I really enjoy this team. We will be a team that will be focused on pitching and defense. I don’t think we will just outscore people.”

Jones will see the make-up of this team for real when the Cougars open the season this weekend when they face Garden City Community College on the road. Garden City opened the season last weekend when they fell to Lamar Community College 3-1.

Jones said that from what he has heard, Garden City is an offensive minded team.

“People of told me Garden City is a good offensive team; they are able to score runs,” Jones said. “Lamar beat them 3-1 [over the weekend] and the Garden City coach said they didn’t hit very well. They haven’t had a chance to be outside much. They got a lot of snow down that way, so they haven’t seen a lot of live pitching yet. They already had a chance to play someone and they might come out real god next weekend. To me it really doesn’t matter. We are going to go play and let’s get better.”

The Cougars, on the other hand, have been outside periodically going through mini games in preparation for the season. Jones said that time outside should benefit his team, especially on the pitching mound, where the team’s bread and butter will be the pitching staff.

“I think pitching will be a strength, and not just with our starting pitching, but the depth of our pitching staff overall,” he said. “We will be able to go to guys out of our bullpen and they will be solid pitchers. It is the depth that will make us really strong.”

Anchoring the pitching staff will be sophomores Armani Gonzalez of Miami, Rodil Martinez of Honduras, and Tim Beard of Australia. Jones these three will be carrying the biggest load. However, the bullpen is filled with talent as Julion Davilla, a sophomore from Puerto Rico, will get the start on the mound for the squad against Garden City.

After these four, there are a slew of other arms that will see plenty of action, including Gering’s Carlos Palomo. Palomo was the Gering American Legion’s No. 1 pitcher last summer and will be a major arm on the mound for the Cougars this year.

Other pitchers that will be counted on is David Castle of Guernsey, Wyo., John Bravard of Lyons, Colo., Sidney Jones of La Creiba Honduras, JC Morales of Miami, and Josh Parker of Australia.

“We can keep going through quality guys,” Jones said. “Even though these guys are not our starting pictures right now, they will be key for us.”

Jones said for this team to score runs, they will need to be creative. And one way is to take advantage of their speed on the base paths.

“Offensively, we look like a team that will be scrappy,” he said. “We are going to have to show a lot of discipline. We will have to stay within ourselves and try not to do too much. We are not going to have a powerful lineup and you are not going to see us hit a lot of home runs. We will be a team that will find ways to get on base, and then use our team speed to our advantage and create scoring opportunities.”

The Cougars do have a lot of returning players on the offensive side, including Elvis Garcia at first base, Oscar Rodriquez at second base, Josh Parker as an infielder/pitcher, catchers Jason Sloan and Shane Wade, and outfielders Jared Baros and Trace Marsden. Marsden is a Scottsbluff High graduate.

Jones said that with this type of returning talent, it should be a fun year.

“It will be exciting and the guys understand how we are going to play and how we are going to score runs,” he said. “Everyone is on the same page and understands what our philosophy is going to be to try to score runs. We are going to take a lot of chances and we are going to get thrown out some times. It will not always work, but we will be a team that will go for it and we will see what happens.”

The players can’t wait to get on the field to see just how they will fare this year. Last season the Cougars finished with a 25-29 record, including finishing second in the Empire Conference standings. WNCC fell in the first-round of the Region IX playoffs to Northeastern Junior College, who went on to win the regional tournament.

“The players are excited to get out and they want to go play,” Jones said. “I am happy for us that we get a chance to get out and play. I don’t care if it is a little cold, we just need to go out and play. We will make plenty of mistakes, but that is the way you learn. Let’s make mistakes and learn from them and come back to work on things.”

After back-to-back weekends playing contests in Kansas, the Cougars will open their home campaign on Feb. 27-28 at Cleveland Field when they host Miles Community College.

WNCC men, women host Casper College on Tuesday

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams will be enjoying the comforts of Cougar Palace for the month of February after a road-weary January.

The home stand begins Tuesday night when the Cougars entertain Casper College beginning at 5:30 p.m. for the women’s contest with the men’s game to follow.

WNCC is entering the slurry of home games looking to mesh together as a team entering next month’s regional tournaments. Tuesday’s contests against Casper won’t be easy as the T-Birds defeated the Cougars back on Jan. 20. The Cougar women fell 87-85 in overtime with a chance to win at the end of regulation, while the Cougar men fell 75-58.

The Casper women come into the contest with a 22-3 record and a No. 19 ranking in the NJCAA national poll. Last week, the T-birds defeated Central Wyoming 60-55 and Western Wyoming 75-51. The Casper men own a 19-6 record after dropping Central Wyoming 69-63 and Western Wyoming 73-56.

The Cougar women are 18-5 on the season and need two wins to earn their 23^rd straight 20-win season. The WNCC men enter Tuesday’s contest with a 13-10 mark.

The Cougar women’s players realize they let a win slip through their fingertips against Casper the last time the two Region IX powers faced each other. That setback is still on the back of their minds.

“We definitely want to come back and beat them especially since we lost to them on their home court. We want to make sure they don’t do that that to us on our home court,” freshman Khayla Gladney said. “We need to start out aggressive, box out and try to get their big girls in foul trouble.”

It won’t be easy for the Cougar women, who received honorable mention votes in last week’s national poll. The Cougar women lost three of four games before sweeping North Platte and McCook over the weekend. The Cougars lost to Casper 87-85 in overtime, Northeastern Colorado 58-39, and Otero 60-56.

WNCC defeated Northeast Nebraska 93-89 in overtime and the topped North Platte 66-45 and McCook 66-58 this weekend.

“I think we played well this weekend,” Gladney said. “The coaches are a little bit frustrated with us, but overall, he was happy that we won. He wants us to work on helping on defense, and cutting off or stopping the ball.”

After Tuesday’s contest, the Cougar women will entertain Eastern Wyoming College at 7 p.m. followed by Northeast Nebraska Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. The last time the Cougar women played at home, they lost to Otero. They now know what they need to do to avoid another collapse like they had before last weekend.

“We are definitely looking forward to playing at home,” Gladney said. “We are going to start off the game being very aggressive and start it off from the jump. We just need to work together, being aggressive and to play as a team.”

The Cougar men will face a tall order in their contest Tuesday night. Casper features a tall lineup that caused the Cougars fits the first time the two squads met. Geoffrey Firmin said the key is playing their game.

“All their five players are tall, so the key for us is to control the tempo,” the red-shirt freshman said. “We have to run and make them play defense because if we play their tempo, they will kick our tails like they did in the first game. I think the key to the game will be running the court and make them play defense.”

The Cougar men, who have been battling despite playing with a smaller lineup, realize that defense will be a major key in the team’s bid for a win.

“We have to put a lot of pressure on them because they have really tall guards and they can’t really handle the ball like small guards,” Firmin said. “We also have to box out because they are really tall, so if we don’t box out they will take all the rebounds.”

The Cougars are entering the contest with some momentum after earning a hard-fought contest against McCook, in a gym that is smaller than a lot of high school gyms In the area. The win was huge for them as it was their first sub-region win of the season.

The Cougars actually should have two sub-region wins having fallen to Northeast Nebraska on Jan. 23 78-76 on a buzzer beater. Frimin said they are looking forward to the rematch with Northeast Nebraska on Saturday afternoon.

“We should have beat them,” Firmin said. “Now we have five of six home games and we are a pretty good home team. I think we have a chance to win all five games at home and then go to EWC in our last regular season game. We can finish the season with six wins in a row.”

WNCC men topple McCook

MCCOOK – Francisco Cruz hit a clutch bucket with under a minute to play and the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team earned a 63-59 sub-region victory over McCook Community College Saturday night in McCook.

WNCC, which led for most of the second half, trailed late 59-58 to McCook before Cruz’s go-ahead bucket and free throw that put WNCC up 61-59. Cruz then cashed in on two free throws with 6.3 seconds remaining to seal the Cougars first sub-region win of the season.

During that last minute stretch, however, the Cougars received two huge rebounds from Geddes Robinson and O’Rion Hughes. WNCC coach Russ Beck said rebounding is something they work hard on.

“We always harp to make sure we box out and we were able to do that down the stretch,” Beck said. “We then put them in a position where they had to foul and we were able to get the ball into the right guy’s hand.”

WNCC and McCook were knotted at 29-29 at intermission before the Cougars went ahead by nine points at 46-37 on Cruz’s 3-pointer and 2-point bucket. WNCC kept the lead near the double-digit mark until McCook made a late-game run, taking their first lead since early in the half.

Beck said that his team stayed strong and executed down the stretch.

“We wanted to play a lot of ball pressure because we saw last night [against North Platte] that during a stretch we had a lot of ball pressure and it was really disruptive. So, tonight, we came out and gave them a lot of ball pressure. They had a hard time running the things they wanted to run.

“On the flip side of it, we also didn’t want to fall into the game like we did last night where we took a lot of quick shots and North Platte made us play. Tonight we wanted to make sure we worked the ball around and make them defend us until they wanted to gamble. We just did a better job of controlling the tempo of the game. We knew down the stretch they were going to make a run, but we were able to weather the storm and knock down some shots.”

Another big key for the Cougars in the win was turnovers. WNCC committed just eight turnovers, whereas in previous losses, the team committed over 20 turnovers.

“I thought everybody was on the same page and did a good job of eliminating our turnovers,” Beck said. “We only had eight turnovers for the game and we did a better job of stopping the teams going down the middle.”

The Cougars put three players in double figures. Cruz finished with 18 points, 14 of which came in the second half. Cruz also was perfect from the free throw line, going 5 of 5. WNCC was just 12 of 17 from the charity stripe for the game.

Also hitting double figures was Brylle Kamen with 13 points and Robinson with 10. Ritchie Mundende also had a good game, finishing with eight points.

The Cougars, 14-10, will return home to face Casper College on Tuesday and then Northeast Nebraska on Saturday afternoon in a sub-region contest.

“This is a good sub-region win for us on the road,” Beck said. “Now, we are excited to finally get home again and hoping the crowd can come out and support us.”

WNCC (14-10) 29 34 – 63
MCCook (17-8) 29 30 – 59
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Geoffrey Firmin 2, Saul Torres 2, O’Rion Hughes 4, Joe Stock 2, Francisco Cruz 18, Brylle Kamen 13, Ritchie Mundende 8, Geddes Robinson 10.

Kistler ignites for 26, WNCC women topple McCook

MCCOOK – Amber Kistler ignited for 26 points and the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team picked up a huge 66-58 sub-region win over McCook Community College Saturday in McCook.

The Bayard native, who canned three 3-pointers, said it was a huge win in a physical game, especially after the Cougars lost a couple games last week.

“We just listened to coach Harnish and ran our plays tonight,” Kistler said. “We broke their press and just played. This win is really good that we now know that we can shoot the ball again and we have momentum going into these next three games at home. Hopefully that will help us out.”

Assistant coach Jennifer Pedersen was pleased with how this team held their composure in a bruising contest.

“It was a physical ball game. McCook full-court pressed us all night and the good thing was that the kids did not retaliate against the pressure,” she said. “They held their composure pretty good once we got into the game. That was one of the keys. We also rebounded the ball better.”

WNCC held a 17-12 lead with under 10 minutes to play in the first half and then picked up the offense as they raced to a 34-28 lead. In the second half, McCook sliced the lead to five, 45-40, before the Cougars pushed the lead to double digits against at 52-40.

Kistler said that everyone came together, especially since they have injuries to key players.

“We played well especially since a lot of our players are injured right now such as Stormye [Everett] and Michelle [Glaze],” she said. “We really did good pulling together. Like Coach Harnish said, it was a good gutsy win. We are glad that we got the win and now we can focus on these next three games.”

Kistler was just one of two Cougars to finish in double figures. Tiffany Moorer added 12 points followed by eight points by Yuki Morimoto and seven points from Thais Pinto.

Pedersen said the weekend’s two wins are good confidence boosters heading into next week’s three home games.

“I think we would have liked to have won this game by a few more points because it was a sub-region game, but it is important that the kids came out on the court and got through some things tonight,” she said. “We are starting to work through some of the trouble that we had [in last week’s games’ and that Is good because next week is a big week for us.”

WNCC will entertain Casper College on Tuesday and then host Highway 26 rival Eastern Wyoming College on Thursday. They will then face Northeast Nebraska in a sub-region contest on Saturday afternoon.

WNCC (18-5) 34 32 – 66
McCook (13-11) 28 30 – 58
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Amber Kistler 26, Tiffany Moorer 12, Yuki Morimoto 8, Thais Pinto 7, Ariane Brown 5, Kelli Culver 4, Carolina Alves 2, Shelby Campbell 2, Khayla Gladney 1.

WNCC women top North Platte while the Cougar men fall to the Knights

NORTH PLATTE – The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball received a 16-point effort from Amber Kistler and the Cougars snapped a 2-game losing streak in registering a 66-45 win over North Platte Community College Friday at North Platte.

But, while the women enjoyed the thrill scent of victory, the Cougar men found the going much tougher against North Platte Community College. The Knights received a 36-point Karol Gruszecki as North Platte turned back the Cougars 81-60 in a sub-region contest.

Assistant Coach Jennifer Pedersen said it feels good to get back on the winning track.

“I definitely think this game was something we needed,” she said. “We still came out and started a little sluggish, but our starters came out in the second half and played pretty well together. The kids definitely worked a little better and harder than they have the last couple games. “

WNCC zipped out to a 17-10 lead early and went up 35-20 at intermission. A big key to the Cougar’s strong first half was shooting, where they shot 56 percent from the field. Pedersen said that they utilized a different game plan against North Platte in playing a more inside game and it worked.

“We definitely used our posts a lot more then we have in the last three or four games,” she said. “We used our posts a lot in our offense tonight. Thais finished stronger, Khayla finished stronger, and Tiffany made some nice moves on the low block. I think that was the big key was, we can’t rely on all of our outside shooting tonight.”

The Cougar women continued playing strong in the second half, shooting 47 percent from the field. WNCC also out rebounded the Knights 35-30.

Thais Pinto, the Cougars 6-foot-7 post player, had a huge night as she finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds.

Kistler led all scorers with 16 points, including two 3-pointers followed by Yuki Morimoto with 11 points and two 3-pointers.

North Platte was led by Nancy Kirkendoll with 15 points and three 3-pointers. Kimball graduates Jaclyn Christensen and Heather Dickson also had a good night. Dickson finished with six points, while Christensen had three points.

Pedersen said this is a good win to carry over to Saturday when they travel to McCook Community College.

“I think this is a big win heading into tomorrow against McCook because we are at their place and it is hard to play there,” she said. “We have been in a little slump here lately and tonight was good to show the kids that there are some things we need to work on but there are some things that we can do good. Hopefully, we can bring that in tomorrow and carry it over.”

The Cougar men didn’t find the going as sweet as the Cougar women in falling to the Knights. In fact, North Platte took control early, vaulting to a 41-21 lead at intermission. WNCC played much better in the second half, staying with the Knights thanks to 42 percent shooting. But it was enough to overcome the 20-point halftime deficit.

Geoffrey Firmin pace the Cougar men with 18 points, including four 3-pointers. Geddes Robinson chipped in 16 points while pulling down nine rebounds, while Francisco Cruz had 12 points and six rebounds.

The big difference in the game was rebounding, where WNCC was out-rebounded 42-32.

WNCC coach Russ Beck said they didn’t take their time on offense and the Knights made them pay.

“We came out and took way to many quick shots and North Platte made us pay,” he said. “We dug ourselves a hole early and couldn’t dig out. They dominated us on the boards. Plus, we only had two assists for the game; that is evidence in our lack of confidence and our selfishness. We need to share the ball and make teams guard us.”

The WNCC men will have little time to sulk over their play against North Platte as they take on McCook Community College Saturday night in McCook.

“We will see if we can learn from our mistakes and turn it around tomorrow at McCook,” he said. “

Men’s Game

WNCC (13-10) 21 39 – 60

North Platte (19-3) 41 40 – 81

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Geoffrey Firmin 18, O’Rion Hughes 8, Joe Stock 3, Francisco Cruz 12, Brylle Kamen 3, Geddes Robinson 16.

NORTH PLATTE

Joseph Ragland 19, Brenton Brown 10, Chase Grabau 4, Isaac Joyner 4, Karol Gruszecki 36, Kamil Gawzydek 2, Rundel Mauge 6.

Women’s Game

WNCC (17-5) 35 31 – 66

North Platte 20 25 – 45

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Amber Kistler 16, Shelby Campbell 2, Yuki Morimoto 11, Ariane Brown 4, Tiffany Moorer 6, Carolina Alves 6, Madison Keller 2, Thais Pinto 13, Khayla Gladney 6.

NORTH PLATTE

Nancy Kirkendoll 15, Shaylyn Miller 2, Mercedez Martin 3, Ivy Kuroki 8, Heather Dickson 6, Kalieia Alberts 1, Ali Hinrichsen 1, Kelly McClintic 6, Jaclyn Christensen 3.

Cruz named NJCAA Player of the Week

Western Nebraska Community College’s Francisco Cruz came up big for the Cougars last week, scoring 93 points in three games in leading the Cougars to two wins. For his efforts, Cruz has been named the NJCAA Men’s Division I basketball player of the week for games ending Jan. 31.

Cruz, a 6-4 wing from Nogales, Mexico, averaged 31 points and seven rebounds a game for the Cougars last week, while ringing in 12 3-pointers and going 23 of 29 from the free throw line.

WNCC coach Russ Beck said he is deserving of the honor.

“We are very proud of Francisco. He is a hard worker and deserving of any recognition that comes his way,” he said. “We are excited for what he and the rest of the Cougars have accomplished and we are excited about where this program is heading.”

In an 89-72 win over Eastern Wyoming, Cruz scored 41 points which made him only the 10^th player in school history to score over 40 points in a game. In that same game he was 14-of-19 from the field, 8-of-10 from downtown, and complimented all this with five rebounds, five assists, and one steal.

Two days later, in an 85-83 overtime loss to Northeastern (Colo.) Junior College, Cruz scored 28 points and shot 11-of-12 from the line, all in the second half.

In the 74-67 win against Otero Junior College, he scored 24 points while shooting 50 percent from the field (8-of-16). He also shot 7-of-10 from the charity stripe and had eight rebounds and two steals in a game where he never came off the floor.

For the week, Cruz averaged 31 points per game on 29-of-52 shooting, 12-of-22 from the three-point line, went 23-of-29 from the free throw line, and had 20 rebounds with six assists and three steals.

WNCC, 13-9, will return to action this weekend when they travel to North Platte Community College on Friday and McCook Community College on Saturday for sub-region contests. The Cougars will return to Cougar Palace on Tuesday, Feb. 9 to face Casper College.

WNCC men, women host Otero Junior College on Saturday

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s basketball teams will look to rebound Saturday against Otero Junior College at Cougar Palace after falling to Northeastern Junior College on Wednesday.

The Cougar women, especially, are hoping to put Wednesday’s second half nightmare behind them as they face the Rattlers at 5:30 p.m., with the men’s game to follow. The Cougar men just want to get back on the court after an emotionally-draining comeback that fell short 85-83 in overtime against the Plainsmen.

“They are anxious to get back on the court because we were one mistake away from winning that game,” WNCC coach Russ Beck said. “Also we really enjoy playing at home. We hope our fans will be as load as those fans at NJC and give us as much support. We have appreciated all the support that we have gotten so far and we will need everybody to get this thing where we need to go.”

Women’s assistant coach Jennifer Pedersen said the women’s team needs to refocus after scoring just 14 points in the second half of their game with NJC, and she is hoping playing at home will help refocus the team.

“As a team all semester, if you look at all the games that we have played, we have been having a hard time focusing. We were 16 points down at Lamar, and then 14 points down at Otero and came back and won. We lost in an overtime game at Casper where we were behind by 14 points as well. We were down 14 points at Norfolk and came back and won in overtime. We were up by five at halftime at Sterling and then only scored 14 points in the second half.

“With us being at home, finally, it will help us focus on the game and come out from the get-go and play hard for a full 40 minutes.

The women’s loss on Wednesday was extremely disappointing after the Cougar women scored 80-plus games in eight of their last 10 games.

“The biggest thing to about points is that we try to hammer defense in the kid’s minds; we don’t care as much as what our point totals are,” Pedersen said. “The thing that was disappointing was that they just didn’t execute Wednesday against NJC. If we can get them to understand the value of executing the offense and executing our plays, points will come naturally to them.”

WNCC and Otero have already faced each other this season. The women earned two victories against the Rattlers, winning 68-49 in December at Cougar Palace and then earning a 60-52 victory at LaJunta, Colo.

The Cougar men faced Otero just once this season, earning a 72-58 win over the Rattlers on the road. In that contest, Geddes Robinson led the team with 26 points.

In the last three games, sophomore Francisco Cruz has been on a tear combining for 85 points and 12 3-pointers. Cruz tallied a Cougar career best of 41 points in the win against Eastern Wyoming on Monday, including eight 3-pointers. He also had 28 second-half points in a overtime loss to NJC on Wednesday.

“We have to play hard, which we always do, but we have to play smart and sometimes we don’t play very smart,” Beck said. “We just have to take better care of the basketball. We were 22 of 39 from the free throw line and we had 20-plus turnovers against NJC and we lost by two. You can pick any number of missed free throws or turnovers and that is a game that we should have won by 15 to 20 points.”

Beck said that Otero will not be a pushover. They have plenty of players that are getting looked at by Division I schools.

“We played them down at their place and they have a nice post, about 6-7 and very skilled, that is getting some nice Division I recruitment. They also have a couple guys on the perimeter that can shoot the basketball,” Beck said. “They play hard and I think they are well coached. We expect them to come in and be fired up and try to even up the series, especially since we took one away from them on their home floor. We have to come ready to battle.”

Saturday’s contest will also feature plenty of activities as well. The Cougar softball team will be holding a chili supper beginning at 5 p.m. Also, the local Girl Scouts will be in attendance and sing the national anthem for the women’s game. At halftime of the men’s contest, the Cougar volleyball team will be honored for their third place finish at the national tournament. There will also be the Runza paper airplane launch as well as the Safetyline half court shot at halftime of the games.

WNCC volleyball will be holding volleyball clinics in March

Western Nebraska Community College will conduct one-day volleyball clinics in March this season. Each clinic is $25, and the clinics will be March 7-11.

WNCC coach Giovana Melo, along with current and former Cougars, will con­duct the one-day clinics, which will run from 6-9 p.m. The clinics will be conducted by Melo, assistant coaches, current players, as well as former Cougars.

The clinics include a Little Cougars Clinic on Sunday, March 7 for girls in fourth through sixth grades.
Then, on Monday, March 8, there will be a Setters Clin­ic for all ages, followed by a Hitters Clinic on Tuesday, March 9 for all ages. Wednesday, March 10 will be a Libero/Defensive Specialist Clinic for all ages.
The final day of the Clinics will be Thursday, March 11 with a Triples Tournament. Players can come with their own set of three players or be placed on teams.
Melo said there will be similar camps the last week in May considering there will be no summer camps this year because of the unavailability of Cougar Palace as a new floor will be installed.
Registrations for the clinics can be downloaded from the Cougar website at sports.wncc.edu. For more information, contact Coach Melo at melog@wncc.edu or at 635-6028.

WNCC women fall to NJC

STERLING, Colo. – Dave Harnish just has to look at the 31 turnovers and that is the story of the game for the Cougar women as they dropped a 58-39 contest to Northeastern Junior College Wednesday at the Bank of Colorado Events Center.

“We didn’t compete in the second half. We did a decent job in the first half and I thought we should have had a bigger lead the first half,” Harnish said. “In the second half we just totally got outmanned on the boards and got beat for loose balls, and we showed no effort the second half. We needed to do the things we did the first half such as compete and get on the boards.”

It is a shame, too, because the Cougars played well in the first half, especially defensively, as they held the Plainswomen to just 20 first half points to lead 25-20 at halftime. The team also had just 13 turnovers at the break.

Harnish said they couldn’t do anything in the second half.

“The last game we didn’t play real good and were fortunate to win in overtime. When you turn the ball over 31 times and no desire to make good decisions, and that has been a thorn in our sides this semester with turnovers. We probably had 2o turnovers in the second half.”

Shooting was the big story for the Cougars as they shot just 29 percent from the field (23 percent in the second half. WNCC, after scorching the nets for 13 3-pointers in the overtime win against Northeast Nebraska on Saturday, made just 3 of 14 on Wednesday.

Storyme Everett got things heated up early by draining the opening trey of the game. From there both teams played a defensive game as the contest was tied at 14-14 with eight minutes to play. That was when the Cougars went on a 9-2 run to go up 23-16 behind a 3-pointer by Yuki Morimoto and a bucket by Michelle Glaze. WNCC led 25-20 at the break.

The second half was all NJC as the Plainswomen outscored WNCC 38-14. NJC also made 11 of 14 free throws in the second half compared to just 3 of 4 for the Cougars. WNCC put NJC into the double bonus with 6:22 to play, while the Plainswomen had committed just three fouls.

WNCC had just one player in double figures as Yuki Morimoto had 11 pionts. Thais Pinto finished the night with eight points followed by Amber Kistler with six.

Sabelle Diata led NJC with a double-double with 21 points and 13 rebounds. Diata also had seven blocked shots.

The Cougars, who scored a combined 178 in their previous two games, had a season low 39 points. WNCC, 16-4, will look to rebound Saturday when they host Otero Junior College at Cougar Palace.

WNCC 25 14 – 39

NJC 20 38 – 58

WESTERN NEBRASKA
Amber Kistler 6, Stormye Everett 4, Yuki Morimoto 11, Tiffany Moorer 3, Michelle Glaze 2, Kelli Culver 3, Michelle Glaze 2, Khayla Gladney 2.

Cougar men lose overtime thriller

STERLING, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team fought back from a 12-point deficit, before falling in overtime 85-83 to Northeastern Junior College.

WNCC assistant coach Gianno Biaconi said they never gave up in a hostile environment.

“I am very proud of the guys. They never gave up,” Biaconi said. “I was very happy because they fought and actually came back twice in the game. We were down 16-5 early and came back. Then at the end of the game, with five minutes to play, we were down by 12 and came back.”

With a little over six minutes to play, the Cougars trailed 66-54 and it looked like the Plainsmen would waltz to a victory. The Cougars had other ideas as they fought back to take their first lead of the second half, 69-68, on two Francisco Cruz 3-pointers from the top of the key.

NJC fought back to take a 72-69 lead on two DeShawn Battle free throws with 25.6 seconds to play. WNCC kept their composure and with 8.7 seconds to play, Cruz found a wide open Joe Stock in the corner who drained the trey to tie the score at 72 to force overtime.

In the overtime period, Cruz connected on two field goals to five WNCC a 76-75 lead. After NJC’s Widget Washington put the Plainsmen up 77-76. WNCC then led 80-77 as Geddes Robinson scored off an assist from Stock, and then Stock scored from an assist from Cruz for an 80-77 lead.

NJC’s Battle tied the game after draining a long-range 3-pointer with 1:21 to play. Ritchie Mundende put WNCC up on an offensive rebound with 46 ticks left. Cruz drained one of two free throws with 17.7 seconds to play. But Washington drained a long 2-pointer with 8.5 seconds and then WNCC was whistled for a controversial turnover on the sideline. Washington then nailed a bucket and was fouled with two seconds to play for the game.

Bianconi said that the game-tying trey at the end of regulation was ran to perfection.

“That play was great. They did exactly what I told them to do,” he said. “I told them to run the play and get three passes and get Joe and Mateus in the corners because they were too worried about Pako [Cruz] taking the shot. Joe took the shot and wasn’t distracted.”

The Cougars actually dominated the contest in several categories. WNCC out-rebounded NJC 55-36 as Brylle Kamen had 11 boards and Mundende had eight rebounds. The Cougars also outshot the Plainsmen 48 perfect to 38 percent. The Cougars shot 53 percent in the second half.

Cruz was the big offensive weapon in the second half, finishing with 28 points and three 3-pointers. All of Cruz’ points came in the second half as he was saddled with foul trouble early in the game.

But, in Cruz’ absence in the first half, plenty of other Cougars stepped up. Mateus Chaves and Joe Stock came up big with some clutch threes in the first half. WNCC trailed early in the game, 26-16 with five minutes left. Kamen started the comeback with three points and then Stock drained a trey and Chavez hit three 3-pointers to cut the halftime deficit to 34-31.

The game also featured 58 fouls between the two teams, and a combined six technicals – three on each team. The difference was free throw shooting as WNCC was just 21 of 39 while NJC was just 21 of 32.

WNCC had four players in double figures led by Cruz’s 28 points. Chaves finished with 14 followed by Stock with 11 and Robinson with 10.

WNCC, 12-9, will look to get back on the winning track when they host Otero Junior College on Saturday.

WNCC 31 41 11 -- 83

NJC 35 38 13 -- 85

NORTHEASTERN COLORADO

Dre Calloway 8, DeShawn Battle 22, Will Bell 6, Jerrell Washington 16, Trevor Brady 6, Nate Wilson 8, Griffin Brady 2, Anthony Crenshaw 4.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

O’Rion Hughes 5, Joe Stock 11, Mateus Chaves 14, Francisco Cruz 28, Brylle Kamen 6, Ritchie Mundende 9, Geddes Robinson 10.

Francisco Cruz ignites for 41 points, Cougars drop EWC

Francisco Cruz ignited for 41 points and the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team snapped a 2-game losing skid in registering an 89-73 win over Highway 26 rivals Eastern Wyoming College Monday at Cougar Palace.

Cruz had 19 points and five 3-pointers in the first half and then finished the game connecting on eight treys for the game on 8 of 10 shooting from beyond the arc. It was only the 10^th time in Cougar history that a player scored 40 or more points in a game. The last time was back in 1995 when Bernard Garner scored 47 points at the national tournament.

“I wasn’t concerned about the offensive points, because whenever we play defense we are able to score,” WNCC coach Russ Beck said. “Obviously, Pako [Cruz] had a hot hand tonight with 41 points and we will take that on any given night. But, I am more concerned with the points we gave up and the uncontested shots that we gave up. If we want to get better, we have to do the small things.”

EWC coach Casey Jones said Cruz’ lights-out shooting was the difference in the game.

“I think the story tonight was Francisco had a nice night and we got beat by a player,” he said. “We just let him get open threes. We knew he was their only shooter. We just did a bad job of finding him. We did a nice job on their other good player [Robinson] and he didn’t have much of a game. It came down to one kid.”

Cruz not only had 41 points on the night, he also dished out five assists and pulled down five rebounds.

“It feels good to be home and it looks like Pako is comfortable on this rim,” beck said. “Geddes [Robinson] didn’t have that good of a game, but he will come on. I suspect that NJC will come out and put a lot of pressure on Pako, which should open up the floor a little bit for Geddes and other players. I thought we shared the ball well tonight.”

However, Cruz wasn’t the only Cougar to step up on the night as several WNCC players had hot hands as the team converted 13 of 21 3-pointers. Cruz had eight treys, but Joe Stock nailed 2 of 4 treys, while Geoffrey Firmin, Saul Torres and Mateus Chaves each had one trey. The Cougars shot 61 percent from the 3-point arc.

EWC also had a good night making the long-range shots, rattling home 10 3-pointers, including three each from Winston Harris and Zach Young. The Lancers shooting in the second half was the difference in the game as they shot 29 percent in the final 20 minutes compared to 58 percent in the first half.

“We dug a hole in the first half and got down by 16 and then we went on to finish the half with a real good run of our own to get it back to a manageable game,” Jones said. “The first half we shot really well and then the second half we really did not shot well at 28 percent. I think we were a little too amped and took some bad threes.”

EWC trailed the Cougars 14-10 early on with a Lance Korell 3-pointer, and trailed 18-12 after a Fola Adeleke bucket. Cruz then scored 11 straight points to help WNCC to a 29-16 lead. Moments later, Chaves buried a 3-pointer and Firmin drove in for a bucket to put the Cougars up 36-20 with seven minutes left in the half.

The Lancers battled back, going on a 16-7 run and cutting the lead to 43-36 on a Young 3-pointers. WNCC answered as Torres made a bucket to help the Cougars to a 46-38 halftime lead.

EWC sliced the lead to five points early on in the second half, but WNCC had an answer to the mini Lancer run as Cruz and Firmin each buried 3-pointers. EWC fought back, slicing the lead to 57-51 on a Tautvydas Kairys bucket with 11:13 to play. Cruz stopped the rally with another trey and then O’Rion Hughes took over the highlight real with six straight points, with the first bucket coming from an assist from Cruz.

Hughes finished off his scoring run as he drove the paint and slammed home two points to put WNCC up 66-51 with under nine minutes to play.

The Lancers tried making a late run, cutting the lead to 75-64 on a Adeleke bucket with 2:12 to play, but Hughes say no sir as he put down an electrifying dunk to put WNCC backup by 13 points.

Cruz and Hughes were the only Cougars to finish in double figures. Hughes added 14 points to the team’s 89 points.

The Lancers had four guys finish in double figures, led by Ivan Simic with 15 points. Harris, Kairys and Adeleke each had 11 points.

WNCC, 12-8, will now hit the road with a big game at Northeastern Junior College on Wednesday. Beck said that will be a special night as the Plainsmen will honor former NJC player Jeron Lewis, who died on the court earlier this month when his Southern Indiana team was playing Kentucky Wesleyan.

“It will be an emotional night because they have the ‘Black Out for Jeron’,” Beck said. “It is an unfortunate thing to happen to him and we wish his family well. He is a guy I coached against when I was at Salt Lake when we played NJC. Hopefully we can go out and get one on the road and keep this thing rolling.”

EWC (2-16) 38 34 – 72
WNCC (12-8) 46 43 – 89
EASTERN WYOMING
Fola Adeleke 11, Lance Korell 6, Zach Young 9, Darius Gordon 9, Tautvydad Kairys 11, Winston Harris 11, Ivan Simic 15.
WESTERN NEBRASKA
Geoffrey Firmin 9, Saul Torres 5, O’Rion Hughes 14, Joe Stock 6, Mateus Chaves 3, Francisco Cruz 41, Brylle Kamen 3, Ritchie Mundende 4, Geddes Robinson 4.

WNCC Cougar men lost heartbreaker at the buzzer

NORFOLK – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team fell a few ticks of the clock short of picking up a win Saturday afternoon against Northeast Community College at Norfolk.

The Hawks used a tip-in at the buzzer to come back from a 8-point deficit to sting the Cougars 78-76 in a East Sub-region contest.

“We gave that game away,” WNCC first-year coach Russ Beck said. “We played a good second half, but we can’t turn over the ball on our last offensive possession and not box out on our last defensive possession. It’s hard enough to win the road, we don’t need to give teams extra chances. We are like a wounded animal. We will see how we react on Monday at home against Eastern Wyoming. Will we succumb? Or will we claw and scratch and fight for a win?”

The Cougars definitely clawed and fought in the contest against Northeast Nebraska up until the final 30 seconds of the contest when mental miscues gave the Hawks new life in a game that was tightly contested throughout. Northeast held a slim 40-38 lead at halftime. WNCC finally took their first lead in the second half on a Francisco Cruz bucket.

Cruz continued with the hot hand eight of the team’s next 10 points to push the score to 57-51. Northeast forged back taking a 62-60 lead. WNCC stayed strong, going on a 14-4 run behind four points from Geddes Robinson and seven points Geoffrey Firmin, including a 3-pointer, to push the lead to 74-66.

Robinson later connected on two free throws to give the Cougars a 76-68 lead with just over a minute to play. After that, the Hawks held the Cougars scoreless as Thomas Colbert hit an inside bucket to tie the game at 76-76 with 20 seconds left. After a turnover by the Cougars, Northeast launched a 3-pointer, which bounced off, but WNCC couldn’t come up with rebound and a late shot by Northeast bounced around the rim before falling in as the final buzzer went off.

The Cougars had five players in double figures, led by Cruz and Firmin with 16 points each. Robinson stuck in 15 points, while O’Rion Hughes had 11 and Joe Stock had 10 points.

Northeast was led in scoring by Jayvin Reynolds with 18 points.

WNCC shot 50 percent from the field and 69 percent from the free throw. Northeast shot 45 percent from the field, but 60 percent from beyond the arc. The difference in the game was turnovers, where WNCC committed 18 miscues to Northeast’s 13.

The Cougars will look to get back on the winning side Monday when they host Eastern Wyoming College in the Highway 26 showdown. Tip-off is slated for 7 p.m.

WNCC (11-8) 38 38 – 76

Northeast (12-8) 40 38 – 78

NORTHEAST NEBRASKA
Jayvin Reynolds 18, Thomas Colbert 11, Zach Towle 11, Kevin Thompson 11, Lakheem Trotter 10, David Taylor 8, Brad Pieper 4, Nicholas Mabbutt 2, Sean Stevens 2.

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Geoffrey Firmin 16, Francisco Cruz 16, Geddes Robinson 15, O’Rion Hughes 11, Joe Stock 10, Saul Torres 8.