The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team nailed 11 3-pointers and held the Colorado State Club team to just two, fourth-quarter points in posting an 87-33 win in the season opener Wednesday at Cougar Palace. 

                The Cougars had five players in double figures in the win, led by freshman Helena Kuck who had 15 points and four 3-pointers. 

                Also collecting double digits in scoring included Jamie Caron, Faith Walker, and Mackenzie Joseph each with 11 points, and Amiyah Donaldson with 10 points. 

                WNCC head coach Isaac Lu was impressed with how his team played in the second half after having some first-half butterflies. 

                “For the first game of the year, I believe there were a little bit of nerves to get going,” Lu said. “But once we settled in we started to become more decisive offensively and settled down defensively. I thought we put together a really nice second half. It is nice to see everyone get in the scoring column for us. We shared the ball well. We ran the floor hard. We played well together. It was a good first win.” 

                It was a good win to get a game under their belt before they head up to Riverton, Wyoming, for a classic on Friday and Saturday when they will face Gillette College and Central Wyoming College. 

                “We are looking forward to playing this weekend in Central Wyoming,” Lu said. “There will be two tough games and we will have to play against one team that is big and physical and we will have to defend the post and then another team that plays really, really hard and has good guards.  

                What stood out in the Cougars win was how all 11 players that saw action contributed in some positive way on the court. All 11 scored and all 11 got a rebound. 

                The first quarter was close early on as WNCC held a 16-7 lead after a bucket by Caron and two free throws by Gal-La Font. Colorado State Club cut the lead to 16-10, but the Cougars scored the final six points to lead 22-10 after one quarter. 

                The second quarter saw WNCC jump out to a 29-10 lead on buckets by Kiley Smich, Kuck, and Keyla Cervantes. WNCC finished off the quarter on back-to-back 3-pointers from Joseph and Adelina Urtane for a 38-22 lead at halftime. 

                The second half was all WNCC as the Cougars jumped to a 46-24 lead in the third and pushed the lead to 45-27. WNCC closed out the third quarter with three 3-pointers from Cervantes and two from Kuck to lead 66-31 after three. 

                The fourth quarter saw WNCC outscore the Rams 21-2 to get the win. 

CSU Club            10 12 9 2 – 33 

WNCC                 22 16 28 21 – 87 

CSU Club 

Mia Turchi 2, Carlie Elwood 5, Susie McCormick 11, Hannah Hurro 7, Lola Kuehn 2, Mia Chavez 5, Maelle Gace 1. 

WNCC 

Amiyah Donaldson 10, Helena Kuck 15, Gal-La Font 4, Faith Walker 11, Mackenzie Joseph 11, Keyla Cervantes 9, Laura Montiel 8, Jamie Caron 11, Kiley Smich 3, Adelina Urtane 5.

WNCC come up short against Casper 

                The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team put four in double figures, but the Cougars were outscored 37-28 in the second half in falling to Casper College 80-74 in the Cougars’ season opener Wednesday at Cougar Palace. 

                WNCC coach Billy Engel said his team fought hard, but went in a scoring slump in the second half, which was the difference in the game. 

                “In a close game, any small mistakes seem like much bigger mistakes in a one possession game the last eight to 10 minutes,” Engel said. “You look back and see some missed lay ups and you remember some offensive rebounds given up and some silly turnovers and those mistakes seem like they are so much bigger. It hurts right now, but when you look back on it, I think we did really compete and play hard. I think we competed together.” 

                The disappointing loss to a Casper team that saw Darius Robinson finish with 25 points including four 3-pointers can help the team in their next game, which will be a difficult one as WNCC heads to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to face Laramie County Community College on Wednesday. 

                “This Casper team has some hype behind them and Laramie County has a bunch of talent,” Engel said. “We are moving on from this Casper team to facing Laramie County which is a team that has intensity and has the same level of play that we saw tonight, we will see then next Wednesday. We are hoping this game prepares them for it.” 

                The first half was a battle as WNCC led an 8-7 lead on a Bula bucket, but the Thunderbirds came back and led 10-8 and then went up 26-22. The Cougars came back to tie the game at 26 on two free throws by Harris and a bucket by Bula. 

                Casper came back to lead 38-37 before WNCC went in front 43-38 and led 46-43 at halftime. 

                The second half was where the Cougars hustled out and led 53-46 behind back-to-back treys by Maurice Walker and Harris. The Cougars kept playing well as they led 56-50 after one of two free throws by Anthony Simo.  

                That was when the Cougars went into a scoring slump as WNCC missed five or six straight buckets. Casper, on the other hand, reeled off eight straight points to grab a 58-56 lead and led 62-61. WNCC came back and had a 67-64 lead on a bucket by Wilson. Casper took a 70-67 lead with under five minutes to play and went up 75-70.  

                The Cougars came back to cut the Casper’s lead to 75-74 on four free throws with 1:03 to play. WNCC went scoreless in the final minute of play, but the Cougars closed out the game on a 5-0 run for the 80-74 win. 

                WNCC had four players in double figures led by JJ Harris with 15 points including three trays, followed by Kayden Nation and Daniel Bula each with 15 points along with Willie Willson getting 11. 

                WNCC earned the rebounding win out-rebounding the Thunderbirds 47-43, led by Wilson with seven and Daniel Bula with eight boards. 

Casper                 43 37 – 80 

WNCC                 46 28 – 74 

CASPER 

Malyk Rebetez 12, Darius Robinson 25, Abdul Bashir 13, Josh Ijeh 8, Nate Sasser 11, Jimma James 3, Kuon Kuon 2, Jaden Peters 4, Andrija Maric 2. 

WNCC 

JJ Harris 16, Maurice Walker 5, Travis Easterly 2, Stephen Ovta 5, Daniel Bula 12, Junior Galicia 2, Anthony Simo 5, Danilo Glisovic 1, Nazor Griffin 4, Kayden Naton 12. 

WNCC volleyball drops five-setter to LCCC at Regionals 

                STERLING, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College volleyball team got 21 kills from Lilly Zwart but the Cougars dropped a heart-breaking five-setter to Laramie County Community College 19-25, 18-25, 25-23, 25-13, 15-11 in the first-round of the Region IX tournament in Sterling, Colorado, on Wednesday. 

                WNCC drops to the second regional tourney bracket and will face Central Wyoming College at 2 p.m. Central Wyoming took Northeastern Junior College to four sets before falling 25-13, 20-25, 25-21, 25-13. 

                The other side of the bracket saw Western Wyoming Community College top McCook Community College in five sets 25-20, 23-25, 13-25, 25-20, 25-11 while Trinidad State College upended Casper College in five sets 18-25, 25-22, 24-26, 25-23, 18-16. Trinidad State will face Western Wyoming in the winner’s bracket on Thursday, while McCook takes on Casper at noon in the other bracket. 

                WNCC took control early as they captured the first two sets 25-19, 25-18 to hold a 2-0 lead. 

                The third set was a battle as the Cougars couldn’t hold on to get the third set and win as LCCC earned the 25-23 win.  

                The Golden Eagles rode the win in the third set and cruised to the 25-13 win the fourth as LCCC had a run of nine straight service points to open up the set. 

                The fifth set saw LCCC jump out to a 10-6 lead and never looked back to get the 15-11 win. 

                WNCC had three players in double-figure kills. Zwart tallied 21 kills along with seven digs. Dani Cruz had a double-double with 14 kills and 12 digs, while Charli Blackman tallied 11 kills along with eight digs and three assisted blocks. 

                Also for the Cougars, Shanelle Martinez had a double-double with 54 set assists and 28 digs. She also had five kills and one ace serve. 

                Kyana Gabriel finished with seven kills with four digs, while Chloe Grady had four kills, two solo blocks, and six assisted blocks. 

                Finja Schul finished with three kills and five assisted blocks, while Maya Angelova had two kills. 

                Megan Bewley finished with 10 digs while Taylor Tyser had 21 digs with four set assists.