Lamar, Colo. – The 4th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team put three players in double figures and had 13 of the 14 players score in rolling to their 25th win of the season with an 86-48 South Sub-region win over Lamar Community College.
The win was the Cougars' 20th straight win as they improve to 25-1 on the season and 9-0 in conference standings.
Amani Brown led the way with 15 points in the contest followed by Ale'Jah Douglas and Martrice Brooks each with 14 points.
"We played pretty well as a while," sophomore Ashley Panem said. "We locked in and force a lot of turnovers which sparked a few good runs for us. We also shot well in the first half that obviously helped us a lot."
WNCC had a slow start as the two teams were tied at 2-2 and WNCC held a slim 6-5 lead in the first quarter. After that, WNCC ran off 11 straight points behind two 3-pointers from Brooks and a trey from Douglas to lead 17-5. WNCC led 19-8 after one period.
The second quarter saw Lamar hit a trey to open the period but WNCC scored 10 straight behind treys by Shanti Henry and Douglas. WNCC went up 40-19 on a 3-pointer by Brown before leading 50-22 at halftime.
The third quarter was a big defensive effort by the Cougars. Lamar scored the first five points but after that, it was all WNCC as the Cougars scored 17 straight points to lead 67-28. Lamar hit a free throw with under a minute to play to trail 67-29 after three periods.
The final 10 minutes saw WNCC just control the action as they led 76-35 on back-to-back old-fashioned 3-point plays by Yara Garcia and Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo. WNCC never looked back in rolling to the 86-48 win.
WNCC held Lamar to single digits in the first and third quarters and Panem said the defense was key in the win.
"Tonight we got them out of their structured sets," Panem said. "They couldn't run what they wanted and that helps us get those steals."
WNCC finished the game shooting 46 percent from the field and were 32 percent from beyond the arc (10-of-31). Brown had three triples while Brooks, Henry, and Douglas all had two treys.
WNCC was led by Brown with 15 points followed by 14 points from Douglas and Brooks.
Zie also had nine points while Henry finished with eight.
Henry also collected her 100th 3-pointer in her junior college career Thursday night. Henry has made 83 3-pointers at WNCC in her two years and had 18 triples in her one year at Mineral Area Community College in 2020.
WNCC has one regular-season game to play. That game will be Monday at 6 p.m. when the Cougars host Northeastern Junior College in a 6 p.m. contest. That contest was rescheduled from a January date because of health concerns with the NJC program.
Panem said it is important to keep playing sound team basketball as they head into the post-season.
"We just need to keep building momentum going into the regional tournament," Panem said. We have to stay locked in and get better at our weaknesses and even our strengths because that will help us win post season games."
Monday's contest will be the final for several sophomores while some sophomores have a decision to make whether to come back for another year or continue on at another college. Panem is one of those sophomores that will definitely play her last game at Cougar Palace since she was in that same boat a year ago of either going on or coming back. She elected to return for another year.
Panem said she has plenty of memories in her two years at WNCC.
"My biggest memory is last year's national tournament run," she said. "I hope that we do the same and get even further. This is one of our few chances as college athletes to make a good run at the national level."
WNCC (25-1) 19 31 17 19 – 86
Lamar (7-17) 8 15 6 19 – 48
WNCC
Ale'Jah Douglas 14, Amani Brown 15, Aminata Zie 9, Shanti Henry 8, Payton Fields 2, Yara Garcia 4, Breanna Fowler 2, Martrice Brooks 14, Ashley Panem 5, Isabelle Cook 2, Genet Mebratu 4, Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo 4, Rashaan Smith 3.