WNCC women withstand Western Wyoming late rally

Cougars run unbeaten streak to 18 games

(From the sports desk of Mark Rein, unofficial Sports Information Director)
 

            It was a tale of two halves for the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team in its game against Western Wyoming Community College Saturday night.

            In the first half, the Cougars shot 51 perfect from the field en route to a 47-28 halftime lead. The second half, though, WNCC shot a dismal 23 percent but they still survived a frantic Western Wyoming team comeback to down the Spartans 69-65.

            WNCC coach Dave Harnish was pleased with how the team played in the first half and contributes the second half lore to his team being wore out from Friday night’s overtime

            “I was pleased, but the one thing I was worried about was the effect of last night’s game,” he said. “I think the first half we did some things well. We shot the ball well and had a better step offensively and pushed the ball up the floor. It seemed like the second half we came out and didn’t execute the first five minutes of the game and let them get back in the game. They cut it to a 10-point game very quickly and that gave them some excitement, some spark and they played a little bit harder and played with more fire.”

            “We seemed to be a step slow all night long and a little bit has to do with last night and the emotional strain it took from us. There is no excuse that we shouldn’t step up. We have to play four nights at regionals and we didn’t do that tonight. We got lackadaisical the second half and got very lazy.”

            The first half, though, was all Cougars as their defense was superb and their shooting even better. WNCC zoomed out to a 9-0 lead before Western Wyoming knew what hit them. Finally Shaunna McGowen got the Spartans on the scoreboard with a bucket with 14:58 to play.

            That was just a minor first half highlight for the Spartans as the rest of the first half belonged to WNCC. After McGowen’s bucket, the Cougars wenton a 13-0 to push the lead to 22-2. The run was highlighted by 3-point buckets by Brittney Bessert and Bridgett Murtagh and a ESPN highlight reel reverse lay-up by Shana Coleman, which she was also fouled on the play.

            The lead continued to grow as the Cougars took a commanding 47-28 lead into halftime.

            The second half belonged all to the Cougars as the Spartans. After a Crystal Harden 3-pointer to open the half pushed the lead to 22 points, Western Wyoming outscored WNCC 17-4 to cut the deficit to nine points at 54-45 as Erin Scherry and Kellie Parker each drained 3-pointers.

            Western Wyoming continued to battle hard cutting the lead to four points, 57-53 with just eight minutes to play. That was when the Cougars went on a 7-0 run to push the lead back to 10 points at 63-53. The mini-run was highlighted by a Denisha Fields offensive putback and foul.

            The Spartans cut the deficit to four and five points on several occasions down the stretch, but the Cougars found enough heart and energy to withstand the Western Wyoming upset bid.

            The Cougars, 25-2 and winners of their last 18 games, will next be in action Thursday when they travel to Sterling, Colo., to face Northeastern Junior College.

W. Wyoming    28 37 – 65

W. Nebraska   47 22 – 69

WESTERN WYOMING

Erin Scherry 9, Shaunna McGowen 8, Kellie Parker 19, Felicia Stewart 4, Gina Miller 2, Desirae Boudreaux 8, Megan Devish 1, Bec Kyba 14.

WESTERN NEBRASKA
Crystal Harden 5, Molly McGrath 2, Digdem Tok 10, Denisha Fields 7, Brittney Bessert 10, Bridgett Murtagh 4, Karol Salazar 13, Shana Coleman 7, Tatiana Conceicao 11.

Three-pointers: WNCC 5 (Bessert 2, Harden 1, Murtagh 1, Conceicao 1); WWCC 7 (Parker 5, Scherry 2).