LAMAR, Colo. – Kalli Feddersen finished with a double-double of 32 points and 10 rebounds in leading the Western Nebraska Community College women to a convincing 95-57 Region IX South win Saturday afternoon in Lamar, Colorado.
Feddersen's 32 points is the most points by a Cougar since Jess Samorodova had 31 points in 2012. Feddersen's career best is 37 points while at Rawlins High School in Wyoming. Feddersen was a perfect 14-of-14 from the free throw line.
"I think the scoring was free throws for the whole team this weekend," she said. "We shot well from the line and it's what we needed since both teams got in foul trouble early. It is the most I've scored in college."
The win, more importantly, kept the Cougars on top of the Region IX South standings with a 4-0 mark. It was also the team's 14th win of the season and seventh straight victory.
Saturday's win didn't start great as both teams were tied 13 after the first quarter. Lamar even held a 28-24 lead in the second quarter before the Cougars rebounded.
"I think we started out really slow and we weren't really executing our game plan," Feddersen said. "I think we finally got it together the second half. We actually followed through with the plan and we tried to change a lot and it helped and showed in the second half."
Feddersen hit back-to-back buckets in the second quarter to tie things at 28. The Cougars went on a 14-3 run to close out the half leading 38-31.
The third quarter was all WNCC as the Cougar's defense stepped up and pushed a seven-point halftime lead to double digits to open the quarter, 46-32. WNCC led 65-46 after three periods.
The Cougars continued excelling even stronger in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Runnin' Lopes 30-11 for the win.
Feddersen said defense was a big key in the second half performance. WNCC out-rebounded Lamar 50-44 and recorded nine blocks and 15 steals.
"I think it's very important for defense," she said. "We need to still get better on blocking out, being aggressive and getting rebounds."
Feddersen paced the team with 10 rebounds along with getting three steals and a block.
Myriam Garcia also had a big defensive effort, recording six blocks in the win. Zeynep Canbaz and Kylie Hager also recorded blocks in the win.
WNCC shot 49 percent from the field and was 70 percent (29 of 41) from the charity stripe.
WNCC also had balanced scoring with four players in double figures. Besides Feddersen's 32, Sladjana Rakovic finished with 14 followed by 12 points from Rylee Ward, and 11 from Ozge Yarga.
The Cougars also received eight points each from Bree Paulson and Canbaz.
WNCC, 14-2, will be back in action Thursday when they travel to Eastern Wyoming College before hosting Otero Junior College on Friday.
WNCC (14-2) 13 25 27 30 – 95
Lamar (4-12) 13 18 15 11 – 57
WNCC
Kalli Feddersen 32, Sladjana Rakovic 14, Bree Paulson 8, Mikayla Gonzales 2, Ozge Yarga 11, Luize Skrastina 2, Zeynep Canbaz 8, Rylee Ward 12, Myriam Garcia 6.
WNCC STATS
REBOUNDS – Feddersen 10, Paulson 8, Rakovic 5, Gonzales 5, Ward 4, DeLeon 3, Hannah Sparks 2, Kylie Hager 2, Garcia 2; ASSISTS – Gonzales 4, Rakovic 2, Paulson 2, Canbaz 2; STEALS – Feddersen 3, Sparks 3, Gonzales 2, Garcia 2; BLOCKS – Garcia 6.