Region IX tournament begins Tuesday, Cougar women's first game on Thursday

Posted: Feb 29, 2016

The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team's quest for a fourth straight Region IX title begins this week when the Region IX tournament tips off Tuesday in Gillette, Wyoming.

The No. 18 Cougars, who earned the top seed from the South Division with a 24-3 record, will have a bye into the quarterfinals and will open play Thursday at 1 p.m. against the winner of the Northeastern Junior College and Central Wyoming College game that will be played Wednesday at 1 p.m.

The tournament opens Tuesday with three contests. North 2 Casper College will face South 7 Lamar Community College at 3 p.m. followed by South 2 McCook Community College taking on North 7 Miles Community College at 5 p.m. North 1 Gillette College will round out the first day taking on North 8 Little Big Horn College at 7 p.m.

Wednesday's first round selection pits North 4 Central Wyoming against South 5 NJC at 1 p.m., South 3 Otero Junior College against North 6 Northwest College at 3 p.m., North 3 Sheridan College against South 6 Trinidad State at 5 p.m., and South 4 Eastern Wyoming College taking on North 5 Western Wyoming at 7 p.m.

The quarterfinals are slated for Thursday, the semifinals for Friday, and the championship on Saturday at 6 p.m. The winner qualifies for the national tournament March 14-19 in Lubbock, Texas.

The WNCC women enter the tournament with caution, knowing that they have a target on their back as they go for their fourth-straight regional title.

"We always play with a target on our backs," sophomore guard Hannah Sparks said. "The pressure is on but I think if we just work hard and make sure we know what we are supposed to do and do things that we are coached to do, I think will be fine."

Right now, the Cougars are focused. Sparks said practices are going good and they know what they need to do.

"Practices have been going pretty good," she said. "We have stepped it up, picking up the intensity. We are diving on the floor, talking to each other, and making sure we are perfecting.

Definitely the Cougars are entering the tournament on a hot streak, having won their last five games since a road loss to Otero. WNCC finished the season with a couple big wins, including a 63-59 road win at McCook Community College and then dropping No. 10 Casper College last week 53-48 in the regular season finale on the road.

"I think it helps having those wins under our belt so we know where we are at when we play the good teams," she said. "But we always have to be careful about who we play, especially in region to not get too full of ourselves that we come in and play just as hard on the road."

As added pressure, if the Cougars come away with a fourth-straight regional title, they will be only the second team to win four straight regional titles. The Cougars accomplished that feat from 2003 through 2006.

Last year, WNCC defeated NJC for the regional title 61-50. Two years ago, WNCC went on the road and upended the host team Western Wyoming Community College 69-67, and the year before that, the Cougars started the winning streak with a 62-54 win over Gillette College.

Sparks said the team knows how important this time of the year is and they are ready. The sophomores, having gone through the regional tournament last year, know it will take good offense and defense to come out on top.

"Our focus is mainly to get our offense going, feed it inside, play good defense, and work hard overall," Sparks said. "We worked all season for this so it is mainly working hard and doing what we do best."

WNCC doesn't really have one player that is standing out among the rest as the Cougars have a balanced lineup with any number of players capable of igniting for double figure scorings. WNCC has four players averaging between 11 and 9 points a game. Sladjana Rakovic is scoring at an 11 points a game clip followed by sophomore Kalli Feddersen at 10.3. Zeynep Canbaz is at 9.3 points followed by Bree Paulson at 9 points a game.

Four more players that have elevated their game in the last few weeks include Ozge Yarga who is averaging 7.1 points, followed by Sparks at 6.7 points, and Myriam Garcia and Mikayla Gonzales at six points a game.

Sparks said the regional tournament is what this team has been working for with hopes of playing at nationals in Lubbock, Texas in two weeks.

"We are really excited to get started at regionals," she said. "This is what we have been working for all year so we are excited to get into the action, play hard and see how far we go."

All regional tournament games will be streamed through Gillette College at http://vcloud.volarvideo.com/iwcc/widget?id=156

Tournament Pairings

Tuesday, March 1

3 p.m. – Casper vs. Lamar

5 p.m. – McCook vs. Miles

7 p.m. – Gillette vs. Little Big Horn

Wednesday, March 2

1 p.m. – NJC vs. Central Wyoming

3 p.m. – Northwest vs. Otero

5 p.m. – Trinidad vs. Sheridan

7 p.m. – Western Wyoming vs. Eastern Wyoming

Thursday, March 3