LUBBOCK, Texas – The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team fought to the end, but came up a few points short in advancing to the Final Four in dropping a 79-71 contest to Three Rivers Community College Thursday in Lubbock, Texas.
Three Rivers, 24-0, advances to the semi-finals for a contest Friday against Northwest Florida State, who defeated South Plains 63-54. The other semifinal will pit Trinity Valley against Chipola. Trinity Valley topped Shelton State 70-62 while Chipola beat Tyler 55-49.
WNCC ends their season with one of its best finishes at the national tournament in nearly 20 years, going 2-1.
WNCC head coach Chad Gibney said his team fought and competed to the end.
"I am super proud of this team. It was a great season," Gibney said. "We finished in the Elite Eight. Our girls were resilient, and they fought hard, stayed together. I am really proud of the year that we had."
With the way the Cougars played at the national tournament, they showed that they belonged with the top 24 teams in the country.
"I think we continued to validate the basketball program here at Western Nebraska," Gibney said. "We have shown that we belong nationally, and we continue to show that we have a group that can compete at a high level, not only in Region IX, but also at the national level."
The effort the Cougar players gave, especially in the second half when they sliced a 19-point halftime deficit of 44-25 to just single points in the fourth quarter is evident of how they never gave up.
"We started off slow leading to us being down by 19 at the half. Yet, we came together at halftime and almost pulled off the win," Payton Fields, who scored all 11 of her points in the fourth quarter, said. "I think that this loss was a valuable lesson for us and it shows that we have a lot heart and don't give up easily."
WNCC easily could have packed it in at halftime, but they didn't. WNCC outscored Three Rivers 46-35 in the second half.
"I am extremely proud of us," Fields said. "We came together and accomplished what hasn't been done in a while. We also gained a lot of confidence in ourselves during this tournament."
For Fields, though, it was like a homecoming for her as she is from El Paso, Texas. Fields had plenty of support watching her perform on the court.
"It was awesome being back home. Playing in the state that I grew up playing in but now playing at a higher level is an experience like no other," Fields said. "I had a lot of family members in the stands, I was happy that I got an opportunity to play in front of them live instead of online."
It was a game where WNCC stayed with the unbeaten Raiders for three of the four quarters. WNCC opened the game as they led 8-3 after two Ashley Panem 3-pointers and led 10-5. Three Rivers then hit four treys the rest of the first quarter to lead 21-15.
WNCC didn't stop fighting to start the second as Shanti Henry nailed a trey to cut the lead to 21-18. A Panem bucket kept the Cougar deficit to 25-20. After that, Three Rivers outscored the Cougars 19-5 to lead 44-25 at halftime.
Henry, who had six points in the game, said it took the team a little longer than they wanted to find that magical groove the they had in wins on Monday against Iowa Western and Tuesday against top-seeded Jones College.
"The first half was pretty rough for us and it took us a little longer than normal to adjust to the other team's defense," Henry, a sophomore from Wichita, Kansas, said. "The second half was our half we really showed that we weren't ready to go home."
The way they came back in the second half was something that Henry was proud of her team.
"I'm really proud of the team," Henry said. "I came to Texas and showed them that we belong here. Playing at nationals was a great experience. It was great competition and great athletes at the tournament."
The Cougars' second half showed that they belonged at nationals as Three Rivers came oh-so-close of suffering their first defeat with the way the Cougars came out after halftime.
WNCC came out of the locker room and intensified the defense, holding the Raiders scored for nearly four minutes of the third quarter. In the meantime, WNCC scored eight straight points to cut the lead to 11 at 44-33. Three Rivers led 53-38 before WNCC went on a 7-0 run behind 3-pointers by Henry and Panem to slice the Raider lead to single digits at 53-45. Three Rivers nailed two free throws with 35 seconds left in the third for a 55-45 lead after three.
The fourth quarter was an offensive show as the two teams combined for 50 points with the Cougars outscoring Three Rivers 26-24. Fields started the fourth by hitting the first bucket of the quarter. It was Fields first bucket of the game. Three Rivers followed by hitting a trey to lead 58-47.
That was when WNCC put things together, going on a 10-0 run to cut the lead to just a point after Fields hit a bucket. During the run, Fields and Alejah Douglas each had 3-pointers. WNCC trailed by a point at 60-59 before and that was where the difference of the game occurred as the Raiders went on a 9-0 run to lead 69-59.
WNCC came back to slice the lead to five, 71-66 on a Douglas trey. Three Rivers answered each Cougar bucket with a bucket of their own. WNCC did cut the lead to just four points at 75-71 on a Panem trey, but clutch free throws down the stretch gave Three Rivers the win.
WNCC actually out-played Three Rivers in most of the statistics. The two statistics that Three Rivers won were crucial. The Raiders committed just 14 turnovers while WNCC had 24. The other one was free throw shooting where Three Rivers was 25-of-31 from the line compared to just 10-of-13 for WNCC.
The statistics that WNCC won was field goal shooting where WNCC shot 38 percent to 33 percent for Three Rivers. WNCC also buried 11 treys to just 10 for Three Rivers. A big one was rebounding where WNCC out boarded Three Rivers 46-44. WNCC was led on the glass by Bella Sparaco with 10 boards followed by Ky Buell with eight, and Panem and Lidsey Mahoukou with seven each.
WNCC had four players in double figures. Mahoukou led the way with 19 points followed by Panem with 14 points. Panem had four treys. Fields and Douglas each had 11 points. Douglas has two treys along with Buell with a pair.
Overall, the players are happy with the season they had, especially the way they finished it with a fifth-place finish.
"This team had a pretty good season," Henry said. "We had a couple of bumpy roads but overcame those bumpy roads as a team and was still able to maintain our goals, which was to make it to nationals which we did. I feel that we had a great year and we made a lot of memories with each other."
Fields, who is a freshman, said the experience they gained at nationals should help them next year.
"It was an amazing experience, especially for the freshman who haven't played at this high of a level before. We learned a lot about ourselves and what we're capable of when we play together," Fields said. "Being at nationals and gaining this exposure is overall going to make us better for next year, especially now that we know what we're capable of. Additionally, we realize that every game counts, and puts you in a better position for nationals. Next year should be special for the people coming back, I'm excited."
Fields said it was a bumpy season, but in the end, they made those bumps smooth as they finished the year among the eight best teams in the nation.
"Overall, we had a lot of ups and downs as a team. Yet, we came together at the end and did something so special," she said. "I think we'll always look back to this moment and recognize how special this team was and how strong the bond that we had was. I definitely enjoyed this year as a whole. It was difficult for me and took a lot of discipline, yet it all payed off at the end. I am more than happy that I got the opportunity to play with this team."
WNCC 15 10 20 26 – 71
Three Rivers 21 23 11 24 – 79
WNCC
Alejah Douglas 11, Ky Buell 8, Ashley Panem 14, Lidsey Mahoukou 19, Shanti Henry 6, Payton Fields 11, Isabelle Cook 2
THREE RIVERS
Myia Yelder 7, Joi Montgomery 7, Hya Haywood 11, Chaylea Mosby 6, Kierra Thornton 5, Autumn Dodd 14, Ahniya Melton 3, Karlee Holland 8, Jamiyah Thomas 18.