No. 24 WNCC women top EWC
The 24th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team put four in double figures in racing to a 78-67 win over Eastern Wyoming College Monday evening.
By News Channel NebraskaTORRINGTON, Wyo. – The 24th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team put four in double figures in racing to a 78-67 win over Eastern Wyoming College Monday evening.
The win was the Cougars 12th straight win and pushes the Cougars to 15-1 on the season. The Lancers drop to 6-11 on the season.
Gal-La Font and Ebere Egbirika paced the Cougars with 15 points each while Faith Walker pumped in 14, and Mackenzie Joseph finished with 10.
Font, who had a strong contest finishing with five steals and five rebounds, said it wasn’t their best contest but it was a win.
“I think it wasn’t our best game but I think it is most important that we pushed through it,” Font said. “We have been practicing and we had a lot of games so we are a little tired and we ended up getting through it which is all that matters.”
WNCC only trailed a couple of times in the contest and that was at the beginning of the game. After that, the Cougars kept the lead except for a second-quarter tie at 25-25. The Cougars fought through the little things that mogged them down and Font said it was huge that they kept fighting through it all.
“It was important that we fought in this game in the middle of the season since later in the season we will face some harder teams,” Font said. “I am just glad we got the win.”
The contest started off as both teams were hitting shots early as EWC led 4-3 and then 6-5. WNCC buried a trey that started an 8-0 run to lead 136 and pushed it to 19-8 on a Egbirika old-fashioned 3-point play. The Cougars went up 22-11 on a Amiyah Donaldson triple.
The Lancers came storming back with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 22-19. Faith Walker hit one free throw to stop the scoring run, but EWC’s Nikolina Vukcevic buried a 3-pointer to make it 23-22 WNCC after the first quarter.
The second quarter saw Egbirika hit a bucket off a steal but Luna Moreno buried a trey to tie the game at 25-25. WNCC scored eight straight and went on a 15-3 run that saw the Cougars widen the lead to 40-28. WNCC led 41-32 at halftime.
WNCC came out of the locker room ready to play as they scored 10 quick points to lead 51-36. EWC fought back as they out-scored WNCC 21-18 in the third period and a Kopilevich bucket late in the third made it a 3-point deficit for the Lancers at 56-53. Helene Kuck changed the momentum as she buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cougars a 59-53 lead after three.
EWC kept battling in the fourth quarter as Hailey Long made a 3-pointer to bring the Lancers back to within three at 61-58. WNCC would go on an 8-0 run that included strong play from Font, who made a bucket with 5:51 to play and a 69-58 lead.
EWC tried coming back as they cut the lead to 73-65 with 1:27 to play, but the Cougars scored five straight to seal the win.
Walker had a double-double in the contest. Along with her 14 points, she also pulled down 13 rebounds and had two blocks. Laura Montiel, who had six points, finished with seven steals.
EWC was led in scoring by Moreno with 15 points followed by Long with 12 and Tawny Rodriguez with 10.
WNCC will be back in action Wednesday afternoon when they face Western Wyoming Community College at Cougar Palace with a 4 p.m. start followed by a road trip to Casper College on Friday.
The Lancers will open North Sub-region play this weekend when they host Laramie County Community College on Friday and then Gillette College on Saturday.
WNCC (15-1) 23 18 18 19 – 78
EWC (6-7) 22 10 21 14 – 67
WNCC
Amiyah Donaldson 8, Ebere Egbirika 15, Helene Kuck 9, Gal-La Font 15, Laura Montiel 6, Faith Walker 14, Mackenzie Joseph 10, Adelina Urtane 1,
EWC
Sofia Mokofisi 8, Tamar Kopilevich 4, Luna Moreno 15, Emma Jimenez 9, Ali Tripp 2, Tawny Rodriguez 10, Andrea Gutierrez Ciordia 4, Nikolina Vukcevic 3, Hailey Long 12.
Strong second half powers WNCC men past EWC
TORRINGTON, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team received 20 points from Kayden Nation along with a strong second half to power past Eastern Wyoming College 88-73 Monday evening at Torrington, Wyoming.
Nation, who had four 3-pointers in the win, said it was a big win for the Cougars in their first game of 2024. Nation said the second half play was critical for the Cougar’s win, where they overcome a 35-35 halftime score and outscored the Lancers 53-38 for their ninth win of the season.
“We went into halftime knowing we made a lot of mistakes and we knew we had to come out with more intensity and attack the rim more, and get our players open,” the freshman from Peoria, Illinois, said. “That is what we did and we hit open shots.”
The Cougars shared the ball well in that second half as they were finding the open guys as the Cougars only trailed once in the second half.
“We definitely found the open man and made shots. That is the big thing is we made shots and made plays when we had to,” Nation said. “That is what led us to the win.”
The contest wasn’t easy, though, as the Lancers fought back from deficits to make it close, but the Cougars had answers to all of the Lancers runs especially in the second half. It was also the Cougars’ first game back from the break and Nation said it was a good win and now they have to keep it going.
“We have one day of preparation and we have to get back to it,” Nation said. “We dropped a 15-point lead to Western Wyoming in our game during the first semester and we are looking to get the get-back. We are looking to play hard and play with intensity to get the win.”
Monday’s contest was a dogfight in the first half as WNCC led 12-4 early on back-to-back buckets by Maurice Walker. EWC came back by nailing back-to-back 3-pointers and then tied the game at 14-14 on another 3-pointer. WNCC retook the lead on a JJ Harris trey.
The Lancers kept fighting as they took the lead at 21-19 on a 3-pointer and led 27-21 on two more 3-pointers. WNCC came back with an 8-0 run on treys from Harris and Walker to lead 29-27. EWC went back in front at 31-29 on a Jules Teboul bucket and led 33-31 on two Julius Crosby free throws. WNCC regained the lead on a Stephen Ovia bucket and then a Daniel Bula field goal, but the Lancers tied the game at halftime off a steal sending both teams into the locker room knotted at 35.
EWC scored the first bucket of the second half on a Makhiah Tarver bucket, but WNCC scored 11 straight on 3-pointers by Nation, Walker, and Bula for a 46-37 lead. EWC cut the deficit to four, 46-42, but Nation buried back-to-back treys for a 52-42 lead. WNCC went up by 15 at 64-49 on a Nazir Griffin bucket.
The Lancers never got the deficit back to single digits as the Cougars went up 79-63 on a Nation bucket and never looked back to get the win.
Nation led the Cougars with 20 points followed by Anthony Simo with 16, Walker with 15, Wilson with 11, and Harris with 10.
WNCC buried 14 3-pointers in the win with Walker getting five and Nation burying four.
Harris led the way from the boards with 10 rebounds along with seven assists.
EWC was led by Micah Glover with 20 points followed by Crosby with 19 and Teboul with 16.
WNCC will be back in action Wednesday when they host Western Wyoming Community College at 6 p.m. The Cougars will then get into South Sub-region action when they travel to Lamar Community College on Monday.
WNCC (9-7) 35 53 – 88
EWC (3-13) 35 38 – 73
WNCC
JJ Harris 10, Maurice Walker 15, Anthony Simo 16, Nazir Griffin 2, Willie Wilson 11, Travis Easterly, Jr. 1, Stephen Ovia 6, Daniel Bula 7, Kayden Nation 20.
EWC
Micah Glover 20, Henos Fitwi 2, Julius Crosby 19, Ryan Aye 8, Khayree Rashed 3, Rodrigo Sanchez 1, Makhiah Tarver 2, Jules Teboul 16