The 8th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team held Lamar Community College to just five first-quarter points as the Cougar women rolled to an 84-48 South Sub-region win Friday at Cougar Palace.

                The Cougars never trailed in picking up their 18th win of the season as they move to 2-0 in conference play.

                WNCC will have another conference game Saturday when they host Northeastern Junior College with a 2 p.m. tip-off.

                Rashaan Smith, who tallied 10 points and had three blocks, said the team played well in the win.

                “I think we played really good and we played as a team,” Smith said. “I think our shooting was a bit off, but we brought it back late to score.”

                The defense was a big reason the Cougar women got the win Friday night. WNCC held Lamar to single digits in the first and third quarter and held a 21-5 lead after the first 10 minutes and a commanding 45-20 lead at halftime.

                “Our defense was really good today,” Smith said. “We played well as a team and we need to work on communicating a little more. But, I think our defense was pretty solid tonight.”

                The first half saw the Cougars open the game as Shanti Henry buried a 3-pointer. WNCC raced to a 9-0 lead before Lamar scored their first point with 5:32 left in the opening quarter. WNCC led 22-5 after the opening 10 minutes.

                The second was a little more offense on both team, but WNCC still outscored Lamar 24-15. The Cougars led 26-5 on a Shayane Poirot 3-pointer and pushed the lead to 37-9 on five straight points from Henry. A few plays later, Scottsbluff’s Yara Garcia got in the scoreboard with a big 3-pointer to make it 39-15. WNCC led 45-20 at halftime.

                After halftime, the Cougars outscored Lamar 21-7 in the third quarter as they opened the third with 13 straight points to lead 53-20. After a Lamar bucket, the Cougars went on a 9-0 run to lead 62-22. WNCC led 66-23 after three periods.

                The fourth quarter saw Lamar outscore WNCC 21-18, but the Cougars were never threatened as everyone saw action and all but one player scored in the game.

                The Cougars shot 39 percent from the field but were just 21 percent from behind the arc (7-of-34). The Cougar women’s defense held Lamar to 26 percent shooting and 24 from behind the arc (5-of-21).

                WNCC had three in double figures. Ale’Jah Douglas led the way with 17 points followed by 14 from Shanti Henry. Smith had 10 points. Aminata Zie led the team on the boards with 14 rebounds. Henry had four of the Cougars’ seven 3-pointers.

                The WNCC women will be back in action Saturday afternoon as they host Northeastern Junior College in a conference contest. The women’s game tips off at 2 p.m.

Women’s Game

Lamar                    5 15 7 21 – 48

WNCC (18-1)      21 24 21 18 – 84

WNCC

Ale’Jah Douglas 17, Yara Garcia 3, Amani Brown 4, Aminata Zie 9, Breanna Fowler 2, Martrice Brooks 8, Shanti Henry 14, Ashley Panem 2, Payton Fields 4, Shayane Poirot 7, Isabelle Cook 2, Genet Mebratu 2, Rashaan Smith 10.

LAMAR

Thalia Guradiola 3, Jolee Ortiz 8, Althea Kara Angeles 14, Mai Le Waters 9, Emily Schumacher 4, Cristina Rojas 8, Alissa Hebberd 2.

WNCC women, men top Lamar

                The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team only trailed once and played a strong defensive contest in registering a 73-65 win over Lamar.

The win snapped a two-game losing skid for the Cougars but more importantly move the Cougars to 1-1 in the South Sub-Region.

WNCC will have another South Sub-Region contest Saturday when they face defending Region IX champions Northeastern Junior College at 4 p.m.

                Biko Johnson, who finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, said it was a nice win for the Cougar men Friday night.

                “We just stayed together as a team and executed our offense. Defensively, we just held it down,” Johnson said. “The defense was really big for us in grabbing the boards and boxing out their offensive rebounders. That was a big play for us to get the win today.”

                Considering the team lost two close games to McCook and Eastern Wyoming last week, holding a talented Lamar team, who lost to NJC on Tuesday night in five overtimes. Saturday afternoon, Johnson said they have to play strong.

                “We just have to lock in on offense and defense and trust each other as a team and we will be good,” Johnson said.

                More-or-less, the need to play like they did Friday night. Johnson said the Lamar game was a huge win for this team.

                “It is a huge win. We are 1-0,” Johnson said. “We just have to go 1-0 every day.”

                The defense is what really won the game for the Cougars and both teams played strong defense as it took over three minutes before someone scored in the game when Carl Thorpe hit a free throw. Lamar then hit a jumper to take a 2-1 lead. That was the only lead the Runnin’ Lopes would have all game as WNCC came back to go on a 7-0 run led by a 3-pointer by Carter Brown to lead 8-2.

                The first half was tied several times, but each time the Cougars came back to take the lead. The last time the game was tied was at 17-17. Thorpe then hid a bucket and Johnson hit a trey to put the Cougars up 22-18. WNCC led 32-21 at halftime.

                The second half saw WNCC jump out to a 44-27 lead behind five straight points from Rodney Sawyer. Jasiya DeOllos later hit two free throws to put the score at 46-34. Lamar sliced the lead to 49-43, but Brown made a 4-point play after hitting a trey and was fouled and hit the free throw.

                Late in the game Lamar sliced the lead to 70-65 with a minute to play, but Johnson hit two free throws and then Chancelor Johnson and Agwa Nywesh each had a free throw to seal the win.

                WNCC was led by Biko Johnson with 16 points followed by Nywesh with 15. Sawyer had 11 points and Brown had 10. Them Koang led the team on the boards with 11.

Lamar                    21 44 -- 65

WNCC (11-6)      32 41 – 73

WNCC

Carter Brown 10, Rodney Sawyer 11, Jasiya DeOllos 2, Biko Johnson 16, Carl Thorpe 5, Agwa Nywesh 15, Chancelor Johnson 2, Turumbil Zaki 4, Them Koang 8.

LAMAR

Kipplyn Richvine 4, Kris Cook 17, Tim Montgomery 14, Khalil Haywood 12, Thurbil Bile 5, Kevon Wiggins 9, Josh Jones 4.