STERLING, Colo. - Merle Wiehl ignited for 27 points to help lead the Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team to a 72-59 Region IX South Sub-region road win over Northeastern Junior College on Friday night in Sterling, Colorado.

                Wiehl shot 11 of 17 from the field overall in the game, including 4 of 7 from behind the 3-point line.

                Tishara Morehouse came off the bench to join Wiehl in the double-figure scoring column with 12 points. She canned a pair of 3-pointers. Taylor Joplin followed with nine points for the Cougars and Allysah Boothe finished with eight.

                Andrijana Reljic led WNCC on the glass with seven rebounds. Wiehl tracked down five boards.

                Boothe finished with a team-high four assists. Reljic led the Cougars defensively with a pair of steals.

                WNCC led 22-8 after the first quarter and outscored the Plainswomen 13-6 in the second quarter to grab a 35-14 halftime advantage. The strong first-half play was enough for the Cougars to hold on in the second half after NJC outscored WNCC 29-17 in the third period. WNCC outscored NJC 20-16 in the fourth.

                Tashika Burrell led NJC offensively with 18 points.

                The victory improved the Cougars to 15-3 on the season and 2-0 in the South sub-region. WNCC will play at Lamar Community College on Saturday at 2 p.m. before returning home to host McCook Community College on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.

WNCC                   22 13 17 20 -- 72

NJC                        8 6 29 16 -- 59

WNCC

Merle Wiehl 27, Allysah Boothe 8, Kolby Underwood 2, Taylor Joplin 9, Tishara Morehouse 12, Andrijana Reljic 4, Anyssia Gibbs 2, R'Manie Pulling 6, Yuliyana Valcheva 2.

NJC

Alyzae Davis 14, Tashika Burrell 18, Asia Turner 8, Taylor Knudson 7, Aleksandra Ratnikava 12.