Zozefine Sipolina scored 27 points and the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team buried 10 3-pointes in earning a 74-56 win over Laramie County Community College Friday evening in the Fairfield Inn Cougar Classic at Cougar Palace.
                The first game of the night saw No. 9 Dodge City Community College earn a 94-51 win over Eastern Wyoming College.
                The classic wraps up on Saturday when Dodge City faces LCCC at 1 p.m. and the Cougars taking on EWC at 3 p.m.
                WNCC head coach Ryan Davis said it was a good win that saw different people do some good things.
                “There were a couple times that they would get on a little run and I told the team that is why we get a cushion because basketball is a game of runs,” Davis said. “They have done this a couple of times in games. They did it against Eastern where we were up big and they started coming back and we made a run again and got it back up by 25 or so. Overall, it wasn’t perfect but we executed the scouting report the best than we have all year.
                The Cougars had three in double figures and everyone suited up played. Sipolina tallied 27 points with six 3-pointers and six rebounds. Nataly Dunka tallied 16 points while going 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. Helena Kuck had 12 points with four 3-pointers.
                Davis was happy to see everyone contribute in different ways.
                “I think she (Sipolina) did a great job because against Eastern she had a really big first quarter and then she struggled second, third and fourth quarter,” he said. “Tonight, I thought she came out aggressive like she always is. I loved her aggressiveness.”
                Then there was Carleigh Pszanka and Katie Vierra, who came off the bench and gave the team some minutes. And also Asia Mitchell, who got into early foul trouble, but in the fourth quarter pulled down key rebounds and got some assists.
                “I thought they both did a lot of really good things,” Davis said. “Everybody will go in and make a mistake or two, but I was impressed they came in aggressive. It is not easy to do when you don’t play a lot of minutes. To be honest, when we practice they are not on the team with the starters and it is easy to come in with the mindset that I won’t be ready and they both were ready. Katie made a great layup and Carleigh was going after rebounds and making pretty good decisions with the ball. It was impressive by them.”
                The Cougars and LCCC got off to a slow start as it was 3-2 for the first couple minutes with LCCC leading 3-2. After that trey by the Golden Eagles, the Cougars went on an 18-0 run and they did it with a couple 3-pointers and some nice defense. Laura Montiel started the streak with a bucket and Lidia Hernandez ended the quarte with a bucket for a 20-3 lead after one period.
                The Cougars started the second quarter with back-to-back buckets by Montiel and Dunka. LCCC went on a 13-3 run to get to within 27-16. WNCC answered as the Cougars nailed three triples, two from Kuck and one from Sipolina for a 38-16 lead. WNCC led at halftime 39-17.
                LCCC scored the first six points in the third quarter. WNCC finally scored with 6:45 left in the third on a Adelina Urtane bucket and the two teams just traded buckets the rest of the quarter with WNCC leading 59-34 after three.
                LCCC started the fourth by going on a 12-5 run. Carleigh Pszanka stopped the run with a bucket and then Pszanka hit another bucket to make it 68-51. WNCC won 74-56. Katie Vierra also came in off the bench and got a nice layup and then she got an offensive charge as well.
               
Game 1
EWC                     6 17 8 20 – 51
Dodge City       20 26 29 19 – 94
EWC
Leamsi Acuna 5, Tawny Rodriguez 10, Lucy Devoy 9, Josephine Bourliotis 8, Nikolina Vukcevic 7, Aliya Tripp 8, Yaiza Paredes 3.
DODGE CITY
Nia Anderson 4, Konstantina Mantziori 6, Morane Dossou 2, Becca Unruh 10, Tayah Morgan 17, Mia Jordan 9, Savi Mi 13, Layla-J Cameron 9, Shorna Preston 16, Sofia Ahmed 4, Ashley Lee 4.
 
Game 2
LCCC                  3 14 17 22 – 56
WNCC                20 19 20 15 – 74
LCCC
Flora Lukow 10, Kelly Megown 16, Hailee Wright 5, Kierra Williams 5, Marcela Pinedo-Saavedra 5, Nuria Florensa 9, Sabela Carro 6.
WNCC
Lidia Hernandez 5, Katie Vierra 4, Helena Kuck 12, Laura Montiel 4, Adelina Urtane 2, Zozefine Sipolina 27, Carleigh Pszanka 4, Nataly Dunka 16.