TORRINGTON, Wyo. – Karlie Seay poured in 48 points breaking a 39-year-old Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball record for most points in a game as the Cougar women came back from a halftime deficit in registering a 92-81 Region IX South Sub-region win over Eastern Wyoming College Saturday evening in Torrington, Wyoming.
The previous record was set in February 1979 season by Mary Ullrich. The record stood for 39 years until Saturday when Seay shattered the record by 10 points. Seay made eight twos, four 3-pointers and was 12 of 13 from the free throw line.
"I didn't even think I scored that much to break it. But it is pretty cool," Seay said. "It was just play as a team and keep the ball moving. If you are open take the shot."
Seay's 48 points is a career best for the Chicago native. Seay had 16 had halftime and scored 32 in the second half. Seay had 16 points in the third quarter. Seay added 16 in the fourth period as well to erase the long-standing record.
Seay's offensive effort, however, was aided by a Cougar second-half offense that 40 percent for the game. WNCC connected on eight 3-pointers. Seay had four while Melisa Kadic had three and Anastacia Johnson had one.
EWC shot 30 percent for the game, including seven 3-pointers. The first half was the Lancers as they had the hot hand.
Seay said the difference in the game was how they came out to play the second half.
"We weren't playing our brand of basketball at the beginning," the freshman guard said. "But when the second half started, we started to pick it up defensively and started going offensively. We started going on our pace of the game and not theirs."
The win was a tale of two halves for the Cougars. The first half, the Cougars couldn't buy a bucket or a rebound as Eastern Wyoming dominated play leading 23-19 after the first quarter and then 41-38 at halftime.
In the second half, the Cougars took their first lead at 45-44 on a Seay trey. It was short-lived as EWC came back to grab a 51-49 lead on a 3-pointer by Pamela Bethel.
That lead was also short-lived as Eva Langton tied the game at 51-51 with two free throws and the Cougars went on a 17-5 run to close out the third quarter leading 68-56. The last part of the third saw WNCC go on a 12-1 run behind back-to-back buckets by Seay and Sophie Agorakis.
The fourth quarter was all WNCC as Seay took over. Seay broke the school record on a little 15-foot jumper to make the score 78-64 with her 39th point. She added nine more after that the rest of the way.
WNCC had three players in double figures. Seay led everybody with 48 points. Jaleesa Avery tallied 16 points and Melisa Kadic had 11.
The Lancers were led by Abril Roure with 22 points and Lauren O'Connell with 21.
Agorakis led the team on the glass with 11 boards, while Giovanna Silva had nine and Avery with eight.
EWC's Bethel finished with a double-double as she pulled down 20 rebounds. She also had two steals.
WNCC also had six blocks in the game, two each from Avery and Langton.
WNCC, 21-3, will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Trinidad State Junior College and Laramie County Community College.
WNCC (21-3) 19 19 30 24 – 92
EWC (13-10) 23 18 15 25 – 81
WNCC
Melisa Kadic 11, Jaleesa Avery 16, Sophie Agorakis 4, Olivia Wiberg 1, Karlie Seay 48, Eva Langton 2, Josie Perez 1, Anastacia Johnson 3, Giovanna Silva 6.
EWC
Abril Roure 22, Ines Salat Margarit 10, Madie Mackey 6, Lauren O'Connell 21, Ijeoma Adaora Ezikeolisa 3, Nicole Cutler 2, Pamela Bethel 17.