The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team got off on the right foot to open post-season play with a dominating performance that saw four players in double figures and all 11 players scoring. Behind that team effort, the Cougar women rolled to the 100-51 win over Trinidad State College in the first round of the women's Region IX tournament at Cougar Palace Friday night.
WNCC moves to 25-6 on the season and it was the first time this season they hit the century mark. The win also advances to the quarterfinals where they will play Western Wyoming Community College on Thursday at March 14 at Casper, Wyoming. Western Wyoming had a bye in the first round.
Other first-round scores in the women's tournament saw Eastern Wyoming College down Laramie County Community College 72-66, McCook Community College topping Lamar Community College 48-43, and Gillette College taking out Northwest College 85-68.
WNCC head coach Isaac Lu said the team played well to get the win.
"I thought our girls just showed up ready to play tonight," Lu said. "They knew that we not only wanted to take care of business but do it in the way we wanted to do it. It was a total team effort and everyone put in the effort and every one scored, so that was good to see."
The big thing now is the Cougars have to keep building off of this win as they face Western Wyoming Community College next week in the regional tournament. Lu said it will be a tough contest, especially since Western Wyoming has beaten WNCC twice this season.
"We can't overlook them and they are a good basketball team; much better than what their overall record might indicate," Lu said. "This is a game our girls are looking forward to. They got us the last couple of times and we are going to go in focusing on what we need to do to be successful."
Friday's win was one where the Cougars played well for 40 minutes and where they controlled things from the get-go. It was a big win especially since last week, WNCC just beat Trinidad 77-60. Friday night, it was all WNCC as they built an 8-0 lead before Trinidad scored with 6:18 left in the first quarter. They followed that up with a 9-0 run to lead 17-2 on back-to-back buckets by Laura Montiel. WNCC closed out the first quarter on an 8-0 run as Ebere Egbirika had six points to lead 25-5 after one quarter.
WNCC's offense was just as hot in the second quarter where they out-scored Trinidad 30-17 and raced to a 38-11 lead behind 3-pointers by Amiyah Donaldson, Kiley Smich, and Gal-La Font. WNCC kept playing well as they closed out the quarter as Faith Walker scored the final six points to lead 55-22 at the break.
The intermission didn't slow down the Cougars as WNCC came out of the locker room and went on a 12-3 run that saw six different players hit a bucket as they led 67-25. WNCC led 75-40 after three quarters.
The fourth quarter was similar to the third as WNCC scored the first eight points on 3-pointers by Egbirika and Helena Kuck to lead 83-40. After a Trinidad triple, WNCC scored the next eight points on a Donaldson 3-pointer for a 91-43 lead. WNCC closed out the game on a 7-0 run that saw Jamie Caron score five points and Adelina Urtane score the bucket that put the Cougars at the century mark.
WNCC shot 52 percent for the game while Trinidad was 32 percent. Both teams connected on eight 3-pointers.
WNCC controlled the boards, out-rebounding Trinidad 50-20. Mackenzie Joseph had seven rebounds while Kuck and Walker each had six.
WNCC was led in scoring by Egbirika and Walker each with 16 points while Donaldson had 14 and Montiel with 10. Font finished with nine points, while Urtane and Joseph each had eight points.
Trinidad 5 17 18 11 – 51
WNCC (25-6) 25 30 20 25 – 100
TRINIDAD
Hailey Apachito 17, Mariah Maes 11, Anisa Gallegos 3, Erica Jaramillo 9, Jordan Malone 5, Zyonaha Glen 4, Nevaeh Martinez 2.
WNCC
Amiyah Donaldson 14, Ebere Egbirika 16, Keyla Cervantes 2, Helena Kuck 7, Gal-La Font 9, Laura Montiel 10, Faith Walker 16, Jamie Caron 7, Kiley Smich 3, Mackenzie 8, Adelina Urtane 8.