The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team put five players in double figures and played strong defense in running past the Nebraska All-stars 83-30 Friday evening at Cougar Palace.
It was the women's 11th win of the season and they will look for win number 12 Saturday afternoon as they take on 12-0 McCook Community College, who defeated Eastern Wyoming College 64-62 on a last second shot by Brooksie McWilliams. Saturday's contest begins at 1 p.m.
Oleida DeLeon, who had 10 points in the contest, said they played well especially on the defensive side.
"We did a great job today, but we can do more," DeLeon said. "In my opinion we have a really good defense."
WNCC trailed to the Nebraska All-stars early, 6-3. The All-stars were made up of former Cougar players Jessica Aratani and Shelby Peltz, along with other former high school players including Chalsey Grentz of Mitchell, and Brittany Cooper and Jessica Bruce of Banner County.
After the All-stars went up 6-3 on a Brooke Foster bucket, the Cougars ran off 17 straight points, including eight points from Oleida DeLeon for a 20-6 lead after the first quarter.
WNCC outscored the All-stars 19-8 in the second quarter, including an 11-0 run highlighted by a trey from Riley Ward and six points from Sladjana Rakovic WNCC led at halftime 39-14.
WNCC's defense kept strong the second half with the Cougars outscoring the All-stars 24-10 in the third to lead 63-24.
The final quarter saw Peltz, a Hemingford graduate, hit a free throw before the Cougars ran off 16 straight points, including six points from Bree Paulsen for a 79-25 lead. Peltz stopped the run with a driving one-handed bucket, just like she did when she played for the Cougars, and was fouled for the 3-point play.
WNCC was led in scoring by Paulson with 11 points and seven rebounds. Four Cougars finished with 10 points each in Kalli Feddersen, DeLeon, Zeynep Canbaz, and Mikayla Gonzales.
The All-stars were led by Peltz and Raven Darnell with six points each followed by five points from Aratani.
Shooting was a big difference in the game as WNCC shot 48 percent and were 10 of 12 from the free throw line. The All-stars hit for 18 percent and were 14 of 23 from the charity stripe.
Saturday's contest against McCook will be a battle for the South Division lead. DeLeon said they just have to execute to get a win. Plus, they need to have balanced scoring, which they had Friday night.
"I think if we do the things we need to do, we can win," she said. "We all have different abilities and if we do the things that we know in basketball, we can do a great job."
Nebraska All-stars 6 8 10 4 – 30
WNCC (11-2) 20 19 24 20 – 83
NEBRASKA ALL-STARS
Chalsey Grentz 2, Shelby Campbell-Peltz 6, Jessica Aratani 4, Becca Wills 4, Brittany Cooper 2, Ashley Gompert 3, Raven Darnell 6, Brooke Foster 2.
WNCC
Kalli Feddersen 10, Sladjana Rakovic 6, Hannah Sparks 2, Ozge Yarga 5, Kylie Hager 2, Luize Skrastina 2, Ole DeLeon 10, Zeynep Canbaz 10, Bree Paulson 11, Rylee Ward 7, Mikayla Gonzales 10, Myram Garcia 8.
wNCC STATS
REBOUNDS – Paulson 7, Gonzales 6, Garcia 5Skarastina 6, Rakovic 4; ASSISTS – Feddersen 5, Rakovic 4, Targa 3, Sparks 2, Hager 2, DeLeon 2; STEALS – Feddersen 6, Sparks 4, Rakovic 5, Paulson 4, Gonzales 3, Ward 2; BLOCKS – Garcia 3, Gonzales 1, Canbaz 1.
ALL-STAR STATS
Rebounding – Aratani 8, Grentz 5, Peltz 4, Darnal 4; ASSISTS -- Cooper 3.