The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team put four players in double figures and trailed just once in the Region IX South Sub-region contest with a team-like 84-54 win over Trinidad State College Friday night at Cougar Palace. 

                What made this win special is different people stepped up and scored in double figures and the team went on three big runs to get the win and moved to 17-3 on the season and 2-0 in sub-region play. 

                Laura Montiel led the team with 14 points followed by Jamie Caron with 13, Adelina Urtane with 12, and Keyla Cervantes with 10. 

                Cervantes said it was a good team win tonight in many aspects. 

                “We had a good team win tonight because we played together,” the sophomore from Arizona said. “Everyone on the team contributed and we picked up our energy in the second half.” 

                The bright spots in the contest was how they shared the ball and a fourth-quarter where they scored 28 points. 

                “The good things were that we all shared the ball,” Cervantes said. “We had a bad start but we stayed locked in and were able to pick it up. We had good energy.” 

                The Cougars will have another tough contest Saturday afternoon when Otero College comes to The Palace for a 2 p.m. contest. On Friday, Otero lost to Northeastern Junior College 62-36 after trailing the ranked Plainswomen 23-22 at half. 

                “Saturday we need to play together and with composure,” Cervantes said. “It starts from warm-ups and just playing for one another.” 

                Friday night, the Cougars trailed just once and that was at 1-0. After that, the Cougars ran off 13 straight for a 13-1 lead. Trinidad responded with eight straight, but WNCC closed out the first quarter on a 9-0 run to lead 22-9 after the opening 10 minutes. 

                The second quarter saw WNCC string together a 15-2 run to lead 39-18 at halftime. 

                The second half saw the Cougars Montiel close out the third with four straight points as WNCC led 56-33. Montiel followed the third with two more buckets to lead 60-33. WNCC closed out the game with eight points with two buckets from Cervantes and two from Caron. 

                WNCC shot 47 percent for the game but were just 1-of-18 from behind the arc. The only 3-pointer was buried by Montiel in the first quarter. 

                WNCC out-rebounded the Trojans 49-24. Urtane had six rebounds followed by Font with five. 

Trinidad               9 9 15 21 – 54 

WNCC (17-3)    22 17 17 28 – 84 

TRINIDAD 

Hailey Apachito 5, Mariah Maes 6, Sonia Evans 6, Desiree Bachicha 1, Jordan Malone 16, Zyonaha Glen 4, Gabby O’Harra 6, Nevaeh Martinez 2, Jasmina Kujevic 8. 

WNCC 

Amiyah Donaldson 8, Ebere Egbirike 2, Keyla Cervantes 10, Gal-La Font 2, Laura Montiel 14, Faith Walker 6, Jamie Caron 13, Kiley Smich 3, Mackenzie Joseph 8, Adelina Urtane 12, Trinity Walker 6. 

WNCC men fall to Trinidad State

               The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team started hot, but then Trinidad State went on a 12-2 run to earn the 85-69 South Sub-region win Friday night. 

                The Cougars dropped to 1-1 in conference play while Trinidad State moved to 2-0.  

                WNCC has little time to relax as they face Otero College Saturday afternoon in another conference contest. Otero fell to Northeastern Junior College 70-68 Friday night. 

                Friday night was a night where the Cougars started strong but then Trinidad heated up. WNCC led 14-10 early on a JJ Harris 3-pointer. WNCC led 16-15, but that was the last time they would lead as Trinidad went on a 16-4 run to lead 31-20.  

                WNCC cut the deficit to five at 35-30 on a Harris triple, but Trinidad’s Lateef Patrick buried two 3-pointers to lead 41-32 at halftime. 

                The second half saw WNCC hit the first bucket after halftime by Stephen Ovia, but Trinidad ran off 10 straight to lead 51-34. WNCC never could get the score back to single digits as Trinidad was too tough. 

                WNCC shot 38 percent for the game and were 7-of-29 from behind the arc. Trinidad was blistering hot from the field, shooting 64 percent and the Trojans mad 11-of-20 3-pointers. 

                Trinidad won the rebound battle 40-31. 

                WNCC had just two players in double figures. Willie Wilson led the way with 14 points while Harris had 12. Harris had a double-double in the game as he also had 13 rebounds. 

                Trinidad had three in double figures with Patrick finishing with 28 points and six 3-pointers. Keliese Frye had 14 points while Titus Washington had 10 points.  

Trinidad               41 44 – 85 

WNCC                 32 37 – 69 

TRINIDAD 

Keliese Frye 14, Amir Reaves 9, Lateef Patrick 28, Titus Washington 10, Kenyon Elliott 3, Finn Lilly 8, Jalen Spencer 8, Wahkil Lopez 2, Devin Davenport 3. 

WNCC 

JJ Harris 12, Maurice Walker 8, Anthony Simo 4, Danilo Glisovic 3, Nazir Griffin 2, Willie Wilson 14, Travis Easterly, Jr., 9, Stephen Ovia 5, Elijah Burney 4, Daniel Bula 8.