Scottsbluff’s Yara Garcia finished with 22 points including four 3-pointers as the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team earned a 73-54 win over McCook Community College in a South Sub-region contest Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.

                The win was the Cougars 20th win of the season to eight losses but more importantly, WNCC locked up the South Sub-region will host the Region IX tournament May 9-11.

                Garcia said they have been putting in a lot of work and to get 20 wins and the chance to host regionals is a testament to their hard work.

                “It (hosting regionals) is sweet. Being here for the last three years, we didn’t get to host my freshman year. So, being able to do that is a testament of all the hard work that you put in our program,” Garcia said. “As for 20 wins in the season, I think it is intensity in practice and holding each other accountable and understanding. The potential that we do have is translating to our performance.”

                WNCC controlled the contest as they only trailed once, 2-0, and were tied just twice, 6-6 and 10-10. Garcia said they played well on both ends of the court.

                “We did really good. We trusted each other offensively and defensively,” Garcia said. “Defense is what is going to win our games. We have been applying what we have been doing in practice into our games.”

                Besides the defensive effort that the Cougars put up, the offense was also hot with different players in the scoring column as Garcia had 22 points followed by 18 by Jayla Owen and then several players from eight to five points.

                Garcia said that offensive showing where a different person steps each game is amazing.

                “It is real important (to have a variety of scorers) because we have a lot of trust with each other and having confidence not only with ourselves, but in our teammates that they are going to step up and hit big shots,” she said.

                After trailing 2-0, WNCC got back-to-back 3-pointers from Mackenzie Joseph and Bre Fowler. After McCook tied the game twice and cut the Cougar lead to 14-12, Joseph hit another 3-pointer and Owen had a bucket to end the quarter for a 19-12 lead.

                The second quarter saw McCook get to within 21-20 but The Cougars pushed the lead to 27-22 on a Rashaan Smith bucket. WNCC pushed the lead to 33-24 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Garcia and 36-25 at the half on another Garcia trey.

                The third quarter was back and forth as WNCC led 42-26 on back-to-back buckets by Garcia and went on to lead 52-39 at the break as Fowler nailed another trey.

                WNCC outscored McCook 21-15 in the fourth period.

                WNCC shot 41 percent from the field and were 10-of-22 from behind the arc. McCook shot 40 percent and were just 4-of-11 from the 3-point arc.

                WNCC won the rebounding battle 41-21 has Joseph pulled down nine rebound.

                The WNCC women will have a week off before they wrap up the regular season with a conference home contest against Northeastern Junior College on Saturday. The women’s game begins at 2 p.m. with the men’s game to follow.

McCook               12 13 14 15 – 54

WNCC (20-8)     19 17 16 21 – 73

MCCOOK
Tatyana Walrond 1, Jalexa Williams 2, Vanessa Jurewicz 19, Noa Iglesias Chorda 3, Natalie Harmata 3, Valentina Monzo 7, Taryn Lindsey 12, Rebecca Dunn 3, Gemma Gruettner Bacoul 2, Itziar Aransay Badia 2.

WNCC
Mackenzie Joseph 8, Bre Fowler 6, Ola Duda 2, Jayla Owen 18, Rashaan Smith 7, Faith Walker 5, Yara Garcia 22, Shiho Isono 5.

WNCC men top McCook behind Johnson’s 26

                The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team remained in the driver’s see to get the second seed from the South Sub-region with a gutsy 73-67 win over McCook Community College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.

                The win moves the Cougars to 15-12 overall but more importantly to 6-4 in sub-region play, a full game ahead of McCook who drops to 5-5 in conference play.

                WNCC head coach Billy Engel said this team continues to play strong as they control their own destiny in trying to host a first round playoff game March 4.

                “That is all you can ask for is a chance and what a better destiny to control our own destiny for second place,” Engel said. “We said early, early in conference play after we dropped an early one, ‘guys we still control our own destiny if we win the games we are supposed to win and we protect home court, we will be in second place and host a playoff game.’ So it was a great job tonight staying together and coming up with a big one, but the mentality stays the same on Tuesday.”          

                McCook started out of the gate strong as the Indians charged to a 10-3 lead and led 11-5 when Engel called a timeout. Whatever was said sparked the Cougars as they went on a 9-0 run to lead 14-11 behind four points from Carl Thorpe and five from Biko Johnson.

                WNCC went up 22-13 on a Stephen Ovia bucket. McCook came back to cut the deficit to 24-19, but the Cougars closed out the first half on a 5-0 run on a bucket by Thorpe and three points from Johnson.

                The start of the second half belonged to McCook as they tied the game at 35-35 and then led 49-43 in the first eight minutes. McCook led 56-47 when the Cougars started their comeback. WNCC shcied the deficit to one, 58-57 on an old-fashioned 3-point play by Johnson with 7:23 to play. WNCC then tied the game at 60-60 on a Johnson 3-pointer and retook the lead with a 10-3 run that saw two free throws by Johnson with 4:42 give the Cougars the lead for good at 64-63.

                WNCC stayed strong as they went up 70-63 and won the game 73-67.

                WNCC shot just 30 percent in the first half and heated up in the second half at 48 percent. WNCC finished the game connecting on 7-of-19 3-pointers and were 14-of-19 from the charity stripe.

                McCook shot 38 percent from the field and were 4-of-29 from the 3-point arc.

                McCook out-rebounded the Cougars 48-46 as 7-0 freshman Noah Boyed tallied 14 rebounds. WNCC was led on the glass by Thorpe with nine.

                WNCC had three in double figures. Johnson led the way with 26 points with just one trey and 9-of-11 from the charity stripe. Also hitting double digits was Zach O’Callaghan with 12 points, all in the second half. Thorpe finished with 10 points.

                WNCC will be back in action next week with two games to wrap up the regular season. On Tuesday, the Cougars will travel to North Platte for a conference game with North Platte Community College before wrapping up the regular season on Saturday at home against Northeastern Junior College with the women beginning at 2 p.m. and the men at 4 p.m.

McCook               19 48 – 67

WNCC                   29 44 – 73

MCCOOK
Martel Evans 19, Madit Lueeth 18, Zeki Cavli 6, Simon Akena 7, Jah-Keish Demby 2, William Humer 3, Noah Boyed 12.

WNCC
Dimitrije Nikolic 4, Biko Johnson 26, Carl Thorpe 10, Stephen Ovia 4, Daniel Bula 7, Enzo Clouvel-Urie 5, Maurice Walker 5, Zach O’Callaghan 12.

WNCC baseball falls twice to Barton

                GREAT BEND, Kan. – The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team scored six runs in both games with a doubleheader with Barton Community College Saturday afternoon, but it wasn’t enough as the Barton Cougars earned a 21-6 and 11-6 win over WNCC.

                The first game was a high scoring contest as Barton went on top 3-0. WNCC answered in the top of the second as Bryce Peterson led off with a solo home run to right field. Barton answered with nine runs in the bottom of the second for a 12-1 lead.

                WNCC continued excelling on offense as they plated five in the third to slice the Barton lead in half at 12-6. The third started with three straight passes as Ethan Johnson earned a walk and then Eli Hernandez and Shintaro Inoue were hit by pitches to load the bases. That set up Tyler Easter as he took the first pitch and lofted it over the left-field fence for a grand slam. Peterson followed with a double and he came in to score on a ground out.

                Barton came right back to counter WNCC’s five runs with six of their own in the bottom of the third to grab an 18-6 lead and then put the game away with three in the fourth for the 21-6 win.

                WNCC had seven hits as Easter and Peterson each had two hits. Peterson had a double and a home run while Easter had a home run with four RBIs. Garrett Dodd also had two hits in the defeat.

                The second game was more competitive in the 9-inning game. Barton opened the scoring with two in the first. WNCC answered with a single run in the second as Hernandez walked and scored on a 2-out single by Dylan Howard.

                Barton followed with four in the third, single runs in the fourth and sixth, and two in the seventh for a 10-1 lead.

                WNCC mounted a comeback as they scored two in the eighth as Ashton Ross walked and Roangeraud Fraai singled. With two outs, Hernandez singled in Ross and Fraai to cut the deficit to 11-3.

                Barton answered with a single run in the bottom of the eighth. The Cougars came back with three more in the ninth. Max Adam led off with a walk followed by a Jacob Jackson double. Ross followed with a single to score both Adam and Jackson and Ross scored on a Inoue fly ball that was dropped to make it 11-6.

                WNCC finished with eight hits. Inoue and Jackson each had two hits as each had a double and a run scored. Hernandez and Ross each had two RBIs with a single.

                WNCC and Barton will be back on the field for a doubleheader Sunday in Great Bend, Kansas.

Game 1
WNCC                   015 00 – 6 7 3

Barton                  396 3x – 21 16 0

LP – Wyatt Zsidisin.

2B – Bryce Peterson.
HR – Tyler Easter, Bryce Peterson

Game 2

WNCC                   010 000 023 – 6 8 2        

Barton                  204 101 21x – 11 16 1

LP – Adrian Short.

2B – Shintaro Inoue, Jacob Jackson.

WNCC softball competes, but falls twice in Texas

                BROWNWOOD, Texas – The second day of the Cisco Invite was a lot better for the Western Nebraska Community College softball team despite falling twice.

                The Cougars opened the game with a competitive contest against Western Oklahoma State College where there Cougars had an early lead before falling 3-1.

                The second game of the day was also competitive as the Cougars plated six runs, but Coastal Bend College earned the 14-6 win.

                The first game saw a strong pitching performance from Avery Fox as she held Western Oklahoma scoreless through the first four innings. WNCC grabbed the early lead at 1-0 when DemiRae Woolsey led off with a single followed by a Sianna Lewis double. Woolsey scored on an Erin Hurst fielder’s choice hit for the 1-0 lead.

                Western Oklahoma tied the game with a single run in the fifth and then took the lead with two in the sixth. WNCC had an opportunity to tie or go ahead in the bottom of the fifth as Bree Henson reached on an error and Victoria Wharton singled, but that was all they could get in that frame.

                The sixth saw Lewis single but pinch runner Devyn Priselac was stranded on second. The seventh saw a mini comeback as Chloe Cronquist reached on an error with two outs, but that was it.

                WNCC pounded out six hits with Wharton and Lewis each getting two hits.

                The second game was competitive as WNCC took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first as Wharton led off the game with a triple and scored on a Chloe Cronquist single. Cronquist came in to score on a Caley Leslie single for the 2-0 lead.

                Coastal Bend came back with a single run in the first and two in the second to take a 3-2 lead. WNCC answered with four in the third for a 6-3 lead.

                The third started when Lewis doubled followed by Leslie getting a single. Lewis scores on a Arianah Plorin ground out. Baylie Krueger then doubled home Leslie to put WNCC in front 4-3. Fox followed with a single and Krueger came racing home. Fox then scored on a Dustin single for the 6-4 lead.

                After that it was all Coastal Bend as they scored four in the third for a 7-6 lead and then added a single run in the fourth and six in the fifth to end the game on the 8-run rule.

                WNCC had 11 hits in the contest. Caley Leslie, Lewis, and Krueger each had two hits. Krueger had a double with a RBI and run scored, while Lewis had a double with a run scored. Dustin also had a double with a RBI, while Wharton had a triple with a run scored.

                WNCC will close out the Texas trip with a doubleheader at Odessa College on Sunday.

Game 1

W. Oklahoma     000 012 0 – 3 9 2

WNCC                   010 000 0 – 1 6 0

LP – Avery Fox.

2B – Sianna Lewis.

Game 2

WNCC                   204 00 – 6 11 0
C. Bend                 124 16 – 14 17 1

LP – Caley Leslie.

2B – Morgan Dustin, Sianna Lewis, Baylie Krueger.
3B – Victoria Wharton.