TORRINGTON, Wyo – The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team picked up their 24th win of the season in holding off a late Eastern Wyoming College charge to post a 76-68 Region IX South Sub-region win Saturday evening at Torrington, Wyoming.
It was the Cougars 12th straight win as they get ready for their last regular season home game of the season on Tuesday against Gillette College at 6 p.m. in sophomore recognition night. WNCC will then turn its attention to the Region IX Tournament, which they will host March 9-11.
The Cougars used a strong first half where they shot 45 percent to hold a 46-30 lead at intermission. Interim head coach Chad Gibney said they played well in the first half.
"I thought we did a nice job. Going on the road against a tough Eastern Wyoming team, I thought the girls were really tough down the stretch and found a way to make some winning plays in a hostile environment," Gibney said.
It was two different halves for the Cougars, too. First half they received plenty of hot shooting especially from Olivia Wiberg and Jaleesa Avery and then the second half they had a gutsy performance.
"A lot of times it is about guts," Gibney said. "You go on the road, it was loud, the crowd was hostile, and I didn't think we were getting a lot of calls down the stretch but we found a way to make tough plays. I thought Giovanna was awesome down the stretch with just the toughness that she brought us. We found a way to get the job done."
EWC coach Tom Andersen said his team dug too big of hole to climb out of against a good WNCC team.
"We made a run at the end but it was way too many turnovers throughout the game," Andersen said. "We just hurt ourselves and we didn't shoot well enough, and turned the ball over way too much."
The difference in the game was the first half, where WNCC played excellent and then held off EWC down the stretch. Andersen said they have to play better defense.
"We didn't play good enough defense the first half and they shot the ball really well from the 3-point line the first half and we didn't. They are a good team and they played well."
The second half the Cougars hit clutch buckets free throws down the stretch Giovanna Silva, Melisa Kadic, and Anastacia Johnson for the win.
Clutch shooting, however wasn't just free throws, but also other shots for both teams.
While WNCC was hot in the first half, they cooled off to 30 percent shooting in the second half. EWC, on the other hand, stayed consistent shooting 35 percent for both halves.
WNCC built a 57-39 lead in the third period after Olivia Wiberg hit her second trey of the night. EWC clawed back to 59-45 after three periods. The Lancers outscored WNCC 23-17 in the fourth period and cut the lead to six, 72-66 on a Sarah Bersang trey.
WNCC had plenty of offense with five players in double figures. Jaleesa Avery finished with 21 points followed by Zeynep Canbaz with 13, Wiberg with 12, Bree Paulson with 11, and Silva with 10.
The Lancers were led by Bersang with 24 points. Bersang also was automatic from the charity stripe, going 11 of 12. Also hitting double digits were Emily Evans with 16, Carna Prokic with 11, and Pamela Bethel with 10. Evans nailed three 3-pointers.
WNCC 21 25 13 17 – 76
EWC 14 16 15 23 – 68
WNCC
Melisa Kadic 8, Jaleesa Avery 21, Olivia Wiberg 12, Zeynep Canbaz 13, Bree Paulson 11, Anastacia Johnson 1, Giovanna Silva 10.
EWC
Emily Evans 16, Sarah Bersang 24, Carna Prokic 11, Anna Gomez 4, Ijeoma Ezikcolisa 1, Jessica Rossi 2, Pamela Bethel 10.