The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team will host the Region IX Crossover Tournament Thursday through Saturday, but because of teams canceling out, the original schedule has been revised a couple of times this past week.
The original schedule had four games a day, but now the schedule features just two or three games a day. WNCC was slated to play all three days, but because of a cancellation on Thursday, the Cougar women will only play the last two days of the tournament.
Thursday action will feature just two contests as Western Wyoming Community College will battle Northeastern Junior College at 3 p.m. followed by Central Wyoming taking on Casper College at 5 p.m. WNCC was slated to play EWC at 7 p.m., but that game was canceled because of EWC only having a handful healthy players.
The Cougars, after taking a day off from the tournament, will begin play on Friday when there will be three contests. The Cougars will play Western Wyoming at 7 p.m. The other two matches will pit NJC against Central Wyoming at 3 p.m. and Casper against the Nebraska All-stars at 5 p.m.
Saturday's action begins at 11 a.m. when Laramie County Community College takes on NJC followed by EWC battling the Nebraska All-stars at 1 p.m. and WNCC facing No. 23 Casper College at 3 p.m.
Bre Fowler, a sophomore from Berthoud, Colorado, said having that extra day off will help them prepare for Western Wyoming and Casper, who both play on Thursday.
"With not having a game on Thursday it gives us some time to prepare for the games Friday and Saturday," Fowler said. "We can focus on what we need to accomplish as a team."
The Cougars are hoping to bounce back from last Saturday's 74-72 defeat to Lake Region State College where the Cougars did not shoot or play well in the first half. Fowler said that is the key for them to do well in this tournament, starting strong from the get-go.
"We just need to come out to a better start and come out with a lot of energy," she said. "We just need to continue to move the ball and play together."
WNCC, 10-5 on the season, will face two talented teams when they meet Western Wyoming on Friday and Casper on Saturday. Casper is 14-3 on the season and ranked 23rd in the latest NJCAA national poll. Western Wyoming comes in with a 7-9 record. WNCC and Casper already met once this season back in November at Casper and the Thunderbirds held on to get the 85-71 win.
Fowler said the key is, more-or-less, them playing their game and executing.
"We know Western Wyoming and Casper are good teams and we just need to play our game," she said. "That (our game) is moving the ball and giving up good shots for great shots and boxing out and rebounding and having better transition defense."
The loss on Saturday was one that woke the team up and Fowler said they are ready for this weekend. In fact, the Cougars will play three games in four days as after this weekend's contest, they will turn around and play a road contest at Eastern Wyoming College in Torrington, Wyoming, on Monday. The women play at 5:30 p.m. followed by the men's contest.
"We are ready and prepared for this weekend," she said. "We know we have to play our game and we are ready to get back at it and get some wins."