Cougar notes: WNCC men open basketball season Friday at home

               The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team had a strong season a year ago reaching the semifinals of the Region IX tournament and head coach Billy Engel returns a plethora of that talent from a year ago as the Cougars open the 2022-23 season Friday at home.

WNCC will open the season Friday night with a 6 p.m. contest against Adams State Junior Varsity, a team that battled a lot of junior college teams a year ago.

Engel said his team is anxious to get the season going.

“I think we are ready to go,” Engel said. “We have had a good long pre-season and definitely had some good, intense moments and did a lot of learning and facing adversity in some of our jamborees and scrimmages. But it is exactly what you need going into opening night.”

A year ago, the Cougars opened with Adams State junior varsity down in Alamosa, Colorado, and won 91-57. This year the game is Cougar Palace.

Engel knows that Adams State will be competitive when they come to Cougar Palace.

“I know they will be competitive and they are well coached,” he said. “You never know until you get out there and you execute the way you are supposed to, play as hard as you are supposed to, and play like a team like you are supposed to, and hopefully you let the scoreboard and everything figure itself out.”

This year’s team will have a different make-up of players as well. The Cougars return plenty of players from a year ago, but they also have a lot of new blood. Engel is excited for the talent on the team and what the returners add.

“The returners were not only important compartments of our offense and defense but they were impact players in the postseason last year,” Engel said. “Our goals this year have a lot to do with going further in the postseason than last year so that should mean a lot to those returners. We hope they can use some of that leadership to pass on that mentality and ideology going into this season. But I think it is nice to have some incoming players that are transfers from other schools that have had different levels of success at their previous schools and they can bring that with them and some leadership with them from those schools. We also have some freshmen that have never been in college before but still have their level of success from where they came from so I think it is a nice mixture of winning experience and we hope that leadership kind of connects.”

The Cougars return five players that saw plenty of action a year ago and another two that red-shirted a year ago.

The five key returners include 6-5 Rodney Sawyer from Pennsylvania; 6-4 CJ Johnson of Atlanta, Georgia; 6-5 Dimitrije Nikolic of Serbia; 6-3 Biko Johnson of Carson, California; and 6-7 Carl Thorpe of Rabun Gap, Georgia.

The two red-shirts are 6-3 Caio Monteiro of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and 6-3 Sergio Burchell of Canutillo, Texas.

With those seven players, the Cougars also have three transfers. Those include 6-3 Camryn Dennis from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who played at Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa; 6-2 Enzo Clouvel-Urie of Franconville, France, who played at Eastern Wyoming College; and 6-9 Zach O’Callaghan of Crystal River, Florida, who played at Bryant and Stratton College.

The freshmen on the team include 6-1 Tristin Thomas of Houston, Texas; 6-4 Ahmari Samuel of Sumtor, South Carolina; 6-9 Stephen Ovia of London, England; 6-5 Daniel Bula of Belgium; and 6-4 Maurice Walker of Denver, Colorado.

The Cougars are hoping to build upon their last scrimmage last week, which was against South Dakota School of Mines. In that scrimmage, the Cougars played well at times and not so well at times. Engel is hoping that they can put a complete game together.

“We certainly didn’t execute or play up to the standard that we hoped in our last scrimmage but we still saw some good things,” Engel said. “There is still a lot that we can take away from that. They were similar to Adams State as a four-year school and coached by four-year coaches. A lot of those players have been in the program for a little bit longer of tenure than the ones here that have been together for two months.”

After Friday’s home opener, the Cougars will get into the heat of the schedule with some tough games the following week, including two home games next week when they face Laramie County Community College on Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 6 p.m. and then Seward County Community College, who is pre-season ranked 16th, on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.

After that, the Cougars head to Salt Lake City, Utah, to face Salt Lake Community College, who lost in the national championship game a year ago. “Salt Lake has Division I talent all over their roster and it will be a good test for us.”

Next week, though, will just be as difficult.

“As our season goes along, I don’t think we will have many off nights and I think there is talent all over the country,” Engel said. “There is talent in our conference and we don’t want to look too far past Friday because right now that is the only one that matters, but there are two really good games next week. 

“We have Tuesday against Laramie County who is very, very talented and had a nice year last year and brings back a lot of talent. Seward County is currently ranked 16th in the country and they are well coached. We got to see them at a jamboree and they are extremely talented as well. We have to continue to work to get better and prepared to face teams like that.”

Basketball season tickets can be purchased at the WNCC athletic office which is located in the Williams Building. Game tickets are also available at the door. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students and senior citizens. 

WNCC women’s basketball ready to open season

                The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team had a remarkable year a year ago finishing in the Final Four of the NJCAA national tournament and with the focus and work ethic put in by this year’s players and coaches, this season could be just as stellar.

                The Cougars finished last season at 30-3 and graduated a slew of players onto the four-year level and will open the season Friday and Saturday at the Hilex Poly/Physician’s Immediate Care Tourney in Twin Falls, Idaho.

                The Cougars open the season Friday at 1 p.m. against Yavapai College and then play the College of Southern Idaho Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m.. Yavapai is a first-year team that last had a women’s basketball team back in the 2010-11 season, while CSI finished last season at 30-3 falling in the first round of the national tournament to Trinity Valley. CSI defeated the Cougars in a high-scoring affair last year 95-89 at Twin Falls.

                Interim head coach Isaac Lu, who was an assistant the past two years under former head coach Chad Gibney, said this team is ready to get going.

                “I think our team is really excited to be able to go up to Twin Falls and play one of the top teams in the country,” Lu said. “We are just taking it day-by-day this week, making sure we are preparing not only ourselves but preparing each other to be the best that we can be when it comes game time.”

                The Cougars have been working hard during the pre-season and the last month of official practice with plenty of scrimmages to get ready for the team. Lu said he likes the make-up of this year’s team.

                “We have a lot of really good players on this team. We got forwards that can really shoot the ball, score inside, and make plays,” Lu said. “We have point guards that can throw the ball and contribute and share it well and we have wings that can shoot the ball. We have overall players that can do a lot of different things with the basketball in their hands. I feel really confident of putting players into the game and giving them full conscious to go and be basketball players and make plays.”

                The Cougars return five players that were a part of last year’s Final Four team. Those five will be key contributors this season and have looked strong so far in the pre-season.

                The five returners are Scottsbluff graduate 5-foot-8 Yara Garcia; 6-2 Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo from London, England; 5-8 Bre Fowler from Berthoud, Colorado; 5-8 Martrice Brooks from Springfield, Illinois; and 6-4 Rashaan Smith from Auckland, New Zealand.

                The Cougars also have two transfers Shiho Isono, a 5-6 guard from Fukuoko, Japan, that played at Tacoma Community College, and Imani Harris, 5-6 from Bronx, New York, who played at Sienna College.

                While these seven will be key returners, the freshmen are just as talented. Leading the list is 5-6 Jayla Owen from Dorval, Quebec; 6-0 Emmie Persson-Bandh of Koping, Sweden; 5-7 Jamie Caron of Rifle, Colorado; 6-0 Gal-La Font of Barcelona, Spain; 5-11 Mackenzie Joseph of Vinton, Louisiana; 6-4 Ola Duda of Porazyn, Poland; 6-0 Faith Walker of Grand Rapids, Michigan; and 5-6 Natalie Barry of Crawford.

                Of the freshmen, there are several that are standing out so far, but all of them are capable of doing big things in the games.

                Lu said he likes what the freshmen have to offer along with the sophomores.

“Ola Duda from Poland has done a really nice job at our five spot. She is a really good team defender. She is big, she is skilled, and she can shoot the ball a little bit. I am excited to see how she grows this season. We also have Jayla Owen on the team from Canada. She is going to do a really nice job for us as a combo guard and someone that can score the ball and get down hill and make plays for not only herself but her teammates. We have Mackenzie Joseph from Louisiana who can shoot the ball and brings a toughness to the team, and then we have Emmie Bandh from Sweden, who can really shoot the ball. I am excited to see how all our freshmen grow throughout the season. They really have developed a bunch from when they first got to campus. I think they all have potential to be really good players.”

While there are plenty of talented freshmen, Lu said the sophomores are key. The returners saw action in different roles a year ago. Brooks averaged 10.1 points a game a year ago followed by Smith at 5.2, Garcia at 3.4, Sarkodee-Adoo at 2.7, and Fowler at 2.5.

                Lu said it also helps that there are players that know what it takes to win that were a part of last year’s strong run into the national tournament.

                “It is always valuable to have experience on your team just because we also have a pretty big group of freshmen as well,” he said. “The returners have done a tremendous job of guiding the way and showing the new players of how we want things done here with the culture and expectations that we have in order to be successful at the level that we are successful at.”

                After this weekend, the Cougars will be back at home for a pair of games when they host Western Wyoming Community College on Friday, Nov. 11 and then Laramie County Community College on Tuesday, Nov 15, they will then head to the Casper GW Mechanical Tip-off Classic November 18-19 when they face Casper College and Salt Lake Community College. Salt Lake finished 21-9 a year ago while Casper won the Region IX tournament and competed at nationals as the automatic qualifier, falling in the first round to Hutchinson Community College. Casper was 28-5 a year ago.

                Lu said the team is excited to be at home next week to showcase what this team is all about.

                “They are excited. We have a new gym floor here. We are coming off a really nice season last year so we are looking forward to opening at home and trying to defend the Palace,” Lu said.

                Basketball season tickets can be purchased at the WNCC athletic office located in the Williams Building on the WNCC campus.