It was a battle between the two Highway 26 rivals Tuesday night and the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team buried 12 3-pointers in earning an 81-67 win over Eastern Wyoming College at Cougar Palace. 

                WNCC evens their record at 5-5 and will be back in action Friday evening when they host Jump Start Academy. 

                WNCC head coach Billy Engel said it was a game where they played up and down, but found a way to win the contest in the final nine minutes. 

                “We had our ups and we had our downs. We had some moments where we gave up some runs and there were open looks that we weren’t happy to give up, but when it came down to it we made enough plays defensively that gave us some easy looks in transition and getting to the rim and had some guys step up and make some plays,” Engel said. “So, did enough to get the job done tonight.” 

                The big key in the contest came with about nine minutes to play. EWC just sliced a WNCC 8-point lead down to one, 58-57. WNCC called a time out and responded on an 11-0 run and outscored the Lancers 23-10 in the final six minutes for the win. 

                Engel said that timeout and how his team played coming out of the timeout was huge. 

                “I can’t remember what we talked about in that timeout whether we drew up a play or talked about defense, but it definitely a shift in mentality coming out of that timeout,” he said. “We defended and kept the ball in front. We protected the rim and we rebounded better and that led to good things offensively.” 

                The Cougars, just like the women’s contest, only trailed once and that was early in the game when EWC led 4-2. After that, WNCC jumped to an 11-7 lead on five points from Nazir Griffin and led 19-11 after a Griffin trey and a Travis Easterly, Jr., bucket.  

                WNCC pushed the lead to nine points at 33-24 on a Junior Galicia bucket. EWC battled back to slice the deficit to 39-35 on a Ryan Aye 3-pointer, but WNCC came back to lead 42-35 at halftime. 

                The second half saw WNCC lead 58-50 on back-to-back 3-pointers by Anthony Simo and Willie Wilson. That was when EWC scored seven straight points, including a 3-pointer by Henos Fitwi with 9:16 to play. WNCC called a timeout and the Cougars responded, going on the 11-0 run that was led by two treys by Kayden Nation to lead 69-57. 

                WNCC went up 79-63 on back-to-back treys once again before winning going away 81-67. 

                WNCC shot 47 percent from the field and was 50 percent from behind the arc (12-of-24). Griffin, Nation, and Wilson all had three 3-pointers each. 

                The Cougars had three in double figures, led by Wilson with 15 points followed by Griffin with 13, and Stephen Ovia with 11. 

                WNCC lost the rebound battle 44-32. EWC’s Khayree Rashed had 10 boards while WNCC was led by Griffin and Ovia with five boards each. 

                The Lancers had three players in double figures led by Micah Glover with 13 points followed by Ryan Aye with 12, and MJ Binford with 11. 

EWC                      35 32 – 67 

WNCC (5-5)       42 39 – 81 

EWC
Micah Glover 13, Ryan Aye 12, Khayree Rashed 4, Makhiah Tarver 7, Jules Teboul 6, Nick KwoKam Ngomo 8, Henos Fitwi 6, MJ Binford 11. 

WNCC 

JJ Harris 8, Maurice Walker 6, Nazir Griffin 13, Stephen Ovia 11, Daniel Bula 6, Junior Galicia 4, Anthony Simo 3, Willie Wilson 15, Travis Easterly, Jr. 4, Elijah Burney 2, Kayden Nation 9. 

Big first half propels WNCC women past EWC 85-46 

                A big first half was all the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team needed as they earned an 85-46 win over Eastern Wyoming College Tuesday evening at Cougar Palace. 

                Amiyah Donaldson scored 14 points to lead the Cougars followed by 14 from Faith Walker and 10 points each from Gal-La Font and Mackenzie Joseph each with 10 points. 

                The win moved the Cougars to 7-1 on the season as they get ready to host the Fairfield Classic on Friday and Saturday when WNCC plays Casper and the College of Southern Idaho. 

                Donaldson, who scored eight of her points at the end of the first quarter, said the team played well, especially coming out of the gate. 

                “We played together and we played quick. We knew what we needed to do and we just executed it,” the sophomore from Cleveland, Ohio, said. “This was a big win because it shows us what we can do of we keep our foot on the gas.” 

                What was big was the Cougar’s defensive intensity in, not only the first quarter where they led 30-9, but that defensive effort in the first half. WNCC led 54-22 at halftime. That defensive intensity was intense as they forced two 10-second calls in the first four minutes of the game. 

                “The key in the first half was going out and playing in transition, moving the ball, and being confident in our shot,” she said. “Defensively we have to keep our foot on the gas and (getting those two 10-second calls) just shows how aggressive we can be if we keep putting pressure on defense.” 

                The Cougars trailed once in the contest at 3-2 when EWC’s Luna Moreno nailed a trey. After that, the Cougars went to down, scoring the next 13 points behind six points from Ebere Egbirika to lead 15-3 and kept their foot on the gas in leading 30-7 after Donaldson scored with late points, including two treys to lead 30-9 after one period. 

                The second quarter saw bot team trade buckets but then the Cougars went on a 9-0 run behind a big steal and bucket by Laura Montiel and a 3-pointer by Helena Kuck to lead 44-13. WNCC kept firing on offense as Faith Walker scored the final seven points of the half, including a 3-pointer to lead 54-22 at halftime. 

                The third quarter saw WNCC outscore EWC 16-7, including back-to-back buckets by Egbirika to lead 67-26 and finally 70-29 after three periods. 

                EWC outscored the Cougars 17-15 in the fourth quarter. WNCC led by 44 points points at 77-33 in the fourth on a Kuck trey and ran away for the 85-46 win. 

                WNCC shot 46 percent from the field in the game, including 63 percent in the first half. WNCC buried nine treys in the contest with six different players netting a 3-pointer. 

                The Lancers shot 35 percent from the field, but were just 27 percent behind the arc with four 3-pointers.                 

                WNCC won the rebounding battle 47-24 behind six boards from Walker and five from Kuck.  

                The big thing is all 12 players that played scored in the contest.  

                Donaldson said they need to continue playing like this over the weekend as they face two talented teams in Casper College on Friday at 5:30 p.m. and the College of Southern Idaho at 4 p.m. on Saturday. 

                “We have to stay focused and play our game and just be ready,” she said. “We know we can do it and we are capable of going 3-0 this week.” 

EWC                      9 13 7 17 – 46 

WNCC (7-1)       30 24 16 15 – 85 

EWC 

Tamar Kopilevich 8, Luna Moreno 5, Danija Erakovic 2, Ali Tripp 13, Linoi Biton 2, Avery West 2, Tawny Rodriguez 2, Andrea Gutierrez Ciordia 11, Nikolina Vukcevic 1. 

WNCC 

Amiyah Donaldson 14, Ebere Egbirika 9, Keyla Cervantes 2, Helena Kuck 8, Gal-La Font 10, Laura Montiel 6, Faith Walker 14, Jamie Caron 5, Kiley Smich 1, Mackenzie Joseph 10, Adelina Urtane 1, Trinity Walker 5.