Merle Wiehl and Tishara Morehouse combined for 51 points and the Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team buried 13 3-pointers in registering a 50-point 99-49 win over Northeast Community College Friday evening at Cougar Palace.
Wiehl led all scored with 30 points, including burying five 3-pointers. Morehouse tallied 21 points with four 3-pointers.
Morehouse, a freshman guard from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, said the team played well.
"We played really well today," Morehouse said. "We all played as a team. Everything was just falling with us and it was a good win."
The win was huge for the Cougars, who saw their 11-game winning streak snapped on Monday to Casper College 83-63. Friday's contest saw the Cougars excel and Morehouse said it was a marked difference between games.
"Tonight was way better than Monday," she said. "Monday we were just tired. We came in sloppy and not playing as a team. From now on we are going to keep getting these Ws."
It was a marked difference between the two games, too. WNCC shot 47 percent from the field but more importantly out-rebounded the Hawks 50-34.
The team win also showed as all 11 roster players scored a point and grabbed a rebound.
The Cougars had three players in double figures. Behind Wiehl and Morehouse, Taylor Joplin tallied 12 points. WNCC also got nine points from Yulihana Valcheva and seven points from Andrijana Reljic.
As much as the offense was clicking, it was the defensive rebounding that was clutch Morehouse said.
"Boxing out and getting defensive rebounds was key tonight," she said. "Monday we did not get no defensive rebounds and our defense wasn't what we wanted it to be. Today, defense is what it was."
On the glass, Reljic led the attack with six rebounds, while Wiehl and Joplin each had five boards.
Valcheva also tallied four blocked shots, while Wiehl and Joplin had one block.
WNCC's dominance started early. Northeast scored the first bucket of the game. After that, WNCC reeled off an 11-0 run for an 11-2 lead and later led 22-10.
Northeast battled back, going on a 6-0 run of their own to climb to 22-16. WNCC led 25-18 after the first quarter.
The Cougars opened the contest in the second quarter, outscoring Northeast 24-11 in the second quarter to lead 49-29 at halftime. WNCC scored the final 10 points of the period including 3-pointers by Wiehl and Morehouse.
WNCC didn't let up in the second half, opening the third quarter on a 12-3 run to lead 61-32 and led 71-40 after three quarters.
WNCC outscored Northeast 28-9 in the final stanza for their 13th win of the season.
WNCC, 13-3, will look for back-to-back wins when they host Otero Junior College Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Region IX South sub-region opener for both squads. After Saturday, the Cougars will hit the road for a pair of sub-region games next weekend against Northeastern Junior College and Lamar Community College.
Northeast 18 11 11 9 – 49
WNCC (13-3) 25 24 22 28 – 99
NORTHEAST
Kori Fischer 3, Eriana Brown 8, Jade Blackburn 5, Caitlin Orton 2, Lauren Hunstad 7, Katie Richards 1, Macey Kulhanek 5, Irene Sanz 9, Teagan Pompa 9.
WNCC
Tishara Morehouse 21, Merle Wiehl 30, Allysah Boothe 5, Andrijana Reljic 7, Kolby Underwood 4, Anyssia Gibbs 2, R'Manie Pulling 3, Eva Langton 3, Yulihana Valcheva 9, Taylor Joplin 12, Yaidelis Torres 3.