Late WNCC rally falls short, 57-56

By J.R. OPPENHEIM
Star-Herald Sports Reporter

COLBY, Kan. — A second-half rally fell one point short for the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team in the first round of the Colby Tournament of Thursday. After trailing 31-17 in the first half, the Cougars netted 39 second-half points against Independence Community College, but 26 second-half points gave Independence the 57-56 victory.

“We just didn’t come out ready to play,” WNCC women’s coach Dave Harnish said. “We were down by 14 in the first half. We just didn’t do anything defensively and we were just terrible offensively. The first half just killed us.”

One part of the game in particular that hurt WNCC was 3-point shooting. The Cougars shot only 27 percent from the arc, compared to Independence’s 50 percent. The Cougars were much closer with Independence in field-goal and free-throw percentages. WNCC made 42 percent of its field-goal attempts, and Independence shot 44 percent. From the charity stripe, the Cougars made 47 percent and Independence shot 50 percent.

A positive that Harnish saw from his team in Thursday’s game was the way the Cougars battled in the second half.

“We got back in the game and took the lead (at one point) in the second half, but it was just too big a deficit and we used up too much energy trying to come back,” he said. “The poor start caught up with us. We didn’t play at all the first half.”
Harnish said his team needed to play a full 40 minutes of basketball, not just one half. We did come back in the second half. They made some tough shots at the end. We played well the second half,” he said. “If we played like we did in the second half that way the whole game, we probably would have won by 20. Hopefully, it’s a learning experience. Maybe they’ll learn to come out from the beginning. That’s something we didn’t do tonight. Teams are going to be ready for us, and if we’re not ready to play, this is what’s going to happen.”

The Cougars placed three shooters in double figures. Tatiana Conceicao, who recently signed a letter of intent with Southeast Missouri State, netted 14 points. Silvia DaSilva and Denisha Fields both totaled 13 points. Leading Independence in scoring was Dacie Reutinger with 16 points and Erica Redman with 14.

WNCC will continue tournament play in Colby today and Saturday.

WNCC    17 39 — 56
Independence    31 26 — 57
WNCC
Tatiana Conceicao 14, Silvia DaSilva 13, Denisha Fields 13, Ronnie Curren 6, Crystal Harden 2, Brittany Bessert 2, Molly McGrath 2, April Olson 2, Sherronda Appleberry 1.
INDEPENDENCE
Dacie Reutinger 16, Erica Redman 14, Tiffany Jones 9, Erica Dechant 7, Ashley Jones 5, Giovanni Booker 3, Gabrielle Smith 2, Alicia Saunders 1.