The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team received 23 points from Bre Fowler and Shiho Isono and Mackenzie Joseph each had a double-double as the Cougar women out-scored Northwest College 57-37 in the second half in recording the 87-63 win Friday at Cougar Palace.
Fowler scored 23 points with four 3-pointers while Isono had 10 points and 15 rebounds followed by Joseph who finished with 13 points and 16 rebounds in the win.
WNCC will wrap up the WNCC Classic on Saturday when they face Central Wyoming College at 2 p.m. Central Wyoming lost to Northeastern Junior College in the first game of the classic 87-73 after trailing 50-26 at halftime.
NJC and Northwest will play at 10 a.m. in the classic.
Fowler said the team needs to stop starting slow like they did today. But, the sophomore from Colorado said they played well in the second half as everyone that played scored in the game.
"We started the game a little rough, but figured it out halfway through the first," she said. "We moved the ball around well and traded good shots for great shots. We had a lot of energy in the third quarter and forced many turnovers."
The Cougars hit the boards hard this game as they controlled those boards 62-28. Joseph and Isono led the way with their 16 and 15 boards while Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo had 13.
Fowler said the keys to the game were defense and moving the ball.
"We moved the ball around well and did a good job defensively causing turnovers," she said. "Our rebound was very good and we had multiple people with double digits in rebounding."
The area that really stood out is that all 10 players that played scored with five players in double figures. Fowler led the way with her 23 points including 9-of-14 shooting along with four steals. Ola Duda finished with 14 points, all in the second half, while Joseph had 13, and Isono and Yara Garcia each had 10 points.
Fowler said having everyone score shows a lot about the team.
"It's awesome to see everyone score, but also everyone made an impact in the game somehow," she said. "It shows we shared the ball well tonight."
The Cougars started slow as Northwest took a 10-2 lead with 6:10 to play in the first quarter and trailed later at 12-5. WNCC then figured things out as they held the Trappers scoreless in the final five minutes of the half as Fowler got things started with a bucket followed by Garcia hitting a shot. WNCC got to within one with two Joseph free throws and then took the lead at 13-12 when Garcia hit a leaning lay-up at the buzzer.
The Cougars went up 17-13 on back-to-back buckets by Isono to start the second quarter. Northwest wouldn't fold as they came back to cut the WNCC lead to 19-18 and took the lead at 24-23 with 3:39 to play. Fowler's hot hand took over as the 5-foot-8 Berthoud, Colorado, native nailed a trey and then hit two buckets to give the Cougars the 30-26 lead at halftime.
The third quarter saw Northwest come out and retake the lead at 33-30 and later 39-33. WNCC retook the lead on a Joseph bucket and that started a 9-0 run that saw WNCC lead 46-39 after back-to-back buckets by Duda.
Northwest got a bucket, but WNCC closed out the third on another 9-0 run for a 55-41 lead.
The fourth quarter was back and forth at the beginning and Northwest cut the Cougar lead to 73-49. The Cougars went on a 10-0 run to open up an 83-59 lead on two Emmie Persson-Bandh free throws and then Natalie Barry hit two charity tosses and Faith Walker had the final bucket.
Northwest 12 14 15 22 – 63
WNCC (9-4) 13 17 25 32 – 87
NORTHWEST
Darla Hernandez 18, Jimena Montoro-Cabezas 13, Hayeli Acosta 10, Roxanne Rogers 10, Kamber Good Luck 9, Batoul Khaleefah 2, Ana Knight 1.
WNCC
Bre Fowler 23, Ola Duda 14, Mackenzie Joseph 13, Shiho Isono 10, Yara Garcia 10, Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo 5, Faith Walker 4, Jayla Owens 4, Emmie Persson-Bandh 2, Natalie Barry 2.