Western Nebraska Community College freshman Crystal Harden didn’t have to be around last season to realize the importance of Wednesday’s clash against Northeastern Junior College.

The Cougars, who had their season end against the Plainswomen in last year’s Region IX Tournament, earned some redemption with a 78-69 win at Cougar Palace.

"This was a big game for us because they’re in our region and they beat us last year to go to nationals," Harden said. "They’re a rival, so all of us really wanted to get this win."

NJC coach Wendy Hirschfeld said she knew WNCC would be well prepared.

"I’m sure they were looking for revenge," Hirschfeld said. "We’re rivals, so we knew we would have to play really well to beat them at their place.

"For the most part, I thought we played well. Losing is always disappointing, but overall, I thought we came out and played our game."

NJC, however, couldn’t play well enough to keep WNCC from improving to 16-2 and extending its winning streak to nine games.

The loss dropped NJC to 10-10.

WNCC, despite building a 28-9 lead in the first half, could never quite shake off NJC for good.

Following WNCC’s early burst, NJC responded with an 11-2 run to pull within 30-20 with 4 minutes, 44 seconds left. WNCC ended the first half with a 42-30 lead at halftime.

NJC managed to pull within seven points in the second half, 68-61, but solid shooting from the field and free-throw line helped the Cougars prevail.

WNCC finished the game shooting 45.6 percent from the field, compared to NJC’s 38.5 percent. The Cougars also canned 20 of 23 free throws (87 percent), a statistics that caught the attention of Hirschfeld.

"They shot about 90 percent from the free-throw line and that’s awesome," said Hirschfeld, whose team made only 63.6 percent from the charity stripe (14 of 22). "We’ve been struggling from the free-throw line the last three games, so that’s something that we would like to be able to do."

WNCC, which used its solid shooting to race to a 12-point halftime lead, had a bit more trouble against NJC in the second half. The Plainswomen appeared to play more aggressive in the final 20 minutes, which helped them outscore the Cougars 39-36 in the second half.

"In the first half I thought we played all right," Harden said. "Then in the second half we had to adjust to their defense. We’re not used to teams playing us that aggressive. They came out with a lot more pressure."

Still, Harden never worried, even after NJC cut the deficit to single digits in the second half.

"I was never really concerned because I know how all of are capable of playing," Harden said. "We had confidence. We just needed to keep playing hard."

Harden was one of four Cougar players who scored in double figures. She finished with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists.

Tatiana Conceicao, a 6-foot-2 freshman, led WNCC in scoring with 19 points. She also added five rebounds and four assists. Shana Coleman collected 17 points and five assists for WNCC, and Brittney Bessert tallied 12 points and three assists.

Two players scored in double figures for NJC, led by Lana Mandic’s 23 points.

NJC (10-10) 30 39 — 69

WNCC (16-2) 42 36 — 78

NJC

Tasha Nygard 1, Lana Mandic 23, Beata Szabo 9, Amber Whitlock 5, Karli Knudson 2, Hannah Anderson 2, Ashley Kualii 5, Kristy Long 10, Danielle Mashburn 4, Benazura Serbecic 8.

WNCC