Amani Brown scored her 1,000 career point and the 10th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team captured their 15th win of the season with a commanding 87-46 win over Central Community College Tuesday evening at Cougar Palace.
Brown, who had 828 points in two years at Vincennes University, needed just 12 points to hit her 1,000 points in her junior college career after scoring 160 points in the first semester at WNCC. Brown achieved that mark late in the third quarter with a jumper to make the score 71-32.
Brown said she didn't even now she was close to 1,000 career points.
"It feels good and honestly I didn't even know I was close to 1,000 points," Brown said. "But, I am happy.
Brown said she could have went to a small Division I school after her NJCAA All-American performance last year, but decided to use that COVID year and play one more year at a 2-year school and she transferred to WNCC. She is glad she did even though Vincennes was just 15 minutes from her house while WNCC is 15 hours from her home in Terre Haute, Indiana.
"The COVID year was a reason I came back. I could have went DI but I wanted to give myself more opportunities for different schools to look at me. I felt coming here was the best decision."
Now, she and her Cougar teammates are putting together a strong season and Tuesday night was the start of the second semester. It was also the first time the Cougars played a game in nearly a month after Monday's game with Casper College got postponed. Brown said they played alright after the semester break.
"I thought we played pretty good. We started off a little slow and then we got it together," Brown said. "All together, it was pretty good."
It took awhile to warm up, but once the Cougars did, they showcased the talent and depth on the team. Brown said this team is one of the best she has played on.
"This is probably the best team I have ever played for," Brown said. "Of all the team I have played for in my life, this is probably the best like stacked in every position."
The game started rough for the Cougars, but they did heat up. WNCC fell behind 12-6 after back-to-back 3-pointers by Livia Knapp. That would be the last time the Cougars would trail as they went on an 11-0 run to take a 17-12 lead.
The run started with a Brown 3-pointer and then after a Isabelle Cook bucket, Brown hist a 2-pointer to put the Cougars up 13-12. WNCC would lead 22-17 after one quarter.
The second quarter saw the Cougars' defense step up, holding Central Wyoming to just two points in the 10-minute quarter. WNCC led 26-17 before Central Wyoming's Alexandria Terrazas hit a bucket with about six minutes to play. After that, WNCC went on a 13-0 run to close out the half, leading 39-19.
The first part of the third quarter was a back and forth scoring affair. Central Wyoming had back-to-back points to make the score 52-30. That was when WNCC picked things up, going on a 20-5 run to lead 72-35 after three periods. The run was highlighted by four points from Rashawn Smith, and eight points from Ale'Jah Douglas, and three points from Brown. Brown hit her 1,000 career point during that stretch and then closed out the third with a free throw.
WNCC outscored Central Wyoming 15-11 in the fourth to get the win that featured two lead changes and two ties.
WNCC had just two in double figures. Douglas led the way with 22 points including three 3-pointers and four steals. Brown tallied 16 points with six rebounds and six assists.
Cook, Smith, and Aminata Zie all had eight points. Zie lead the Cougars on the boards with 10 rebounds.
Shooting was a big difference in the game as WNCC shot 44 percent from the field and 32 percent from beyond the arc (8-of-25), while Central Wyoming was 33 percent from the field and 26 percent (5-of-19) from behind the arc.
Defense was also key as WNCC only committed seven turnovers while the Cougar defense force 23 Rustler turnovers. WNCC also had 12 steals in the contest, led by Douglas with four and Ashley Panem and Payton Fields each with two.
WNCC will be back in action Friday when they host McCook Community College in a women's and men's doubleheader beginning at 5:30 p.m. The McCook contest is the South Sub-region opener. After Friday, the Cougars will travel to Eastern Wyoming College for a Sunday afternoon contest beginning at 2 p.m. for the doubleheader.
C. Wyoming 17 2 16 11 – 46
WNCC (15-1) 22 17 33 15 – 87
WNCC
Ale'Jah Douglas 22, Amani Brown 16, Aminata Zie 8, Breanna Fowler 6, Shanti Henry 3, Ashley Panem 5, Payton Fields 3, Shayane Poirot 5, Isabelle Cook 8, Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo 3, Rashaun Smith 8.
CENTRAL WYOMING
Malyah Bolden 4, Alexandria Terrazas 15, Alexxis Motisi 3, Kalista Niu 2, Livia Knapp 13, Natalija Markovic 3, Ivana Bijic 3, Marlee Albrecht 3.