Friday the 13th wasn't in the Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball teams favor Friday night in the second day of the Region IX Crossover tournament at Cougar Palace.
The Cougar women made just two 3-pointers compared to eight for Western Wyoming Community College and a fourth-quarter comeback fell short as the Mustangs recorded a 75-72 win in the nightcap of the tournament.
In other games in the tourney, Northeastern Junior College outscored Central Wyoming College 38-26 in the second half to record the 69-65 win. The other game saw the Casper College Thunderbirds capture the 85-36 win over the Nebraska All-stars.
Saturday's action in the tournament pits NJC taking on Laramie County Community College at 11 a.m. followed by Eastern Wyoming College facing the Nebraska All-stars at 1 p.m. The Cougars will look to get back on the winning track at 3 p.m. when they face Casper College.
In the WNCC contest, the Cougars played well in the first and fourth quarters, but Western Wyoming took the second and third quarters to get the win.
WNCC led 14-16 in the first quarter on a Shiho Isono bucket and pushed the lead to 21-14 on a Jayla Owen 3-pointer. The Cougars led 23-16 after the first 10 minutes.
The second quarter saw WNCC lead 31-23 on a Rashaan Smith bucket. After that, the Mustangs went to town outscoring the Cougars 8-4 as the Cougars held a slim 35-31 lead. Western Wyoming outscored the Cougars 15-12 in the second period.
The Cougars didn't come out of the locker room in the third period on an offensive note as the Mustangs outscored the Cougars 21-6 to take a 52-41 lead. WNCC stopped the scoring slump as Bre Fowler lit one of two free throws followed by a bucket by Owen to cut the lead to 52-44. WNCC followed that with 5-of-6 free throw shooting to cut the Western Wyoming lead to 52-49. The Mustangs led 56-50 after three periods.
The fourth quarter saw the Cougars outscore Western Wyoming 22-19. Western Wyoming lead by nine, 63-54 and by seven points with three minutes to play at 67-60. That was when the Cougars picked things up as Owen hit a bucket and then Duda got a bucket with 2:13 to play to cut the lead to 67-64.
Western Wyoming nailed a shot to go up 69-64, but the Cougars kept fighting as Owen nailed two free throws and then hit a bucket with a minute to play to cut the deficit to a single point at 69-68.
Western Wyoming hit 6-of-6 free throws in the final 23 minutes but WNCC kept playing hard. WNCC cut the lead to 73-72 with 9.4 seconds to play on an Owen bucket. WNCC immediately fouled Hannah Harris, who hit both charity tosses with 7.9 seconds. The Cougars had a chance to tie, but the 3-point shot was off the mark.
WNCC shot 34% from the field while Western Wyoming was 37%. The big difference was 3-point shooting as Western Wyoming buried eight treys while WNCC had just two.
WNCC out-rebounded the Mustangs 51-38 as Mackenzie Joseph had 10 boards and Duda had nine. The Cougars also committed 24 turnovers while Western Wyoming had 21. Western Wyoming dished out 16 assists to just 14 for WNCC.
WNCC had two in double figures with Owen getting 25 points while Duda had 17 points.
NE All-Stars 13 9 6 8 – 36
Casper 24 28 14 19 – 85
NEBRASKA ALL-STARS
Kalli Fedderson 6, Emily Dent 9, Jessica Lampart 4, Sophia Claycomb 2, Syd Winkler 2, Kylie Sterkel 2, Jessica Aratani 6, Brooke Turek 2, Celeste Cardona 1, Jessie Lessard 2.
CASPER
Claudia Garrido 8, Celina Arnlund 8, Logann Alver 13, Irene Fernandez de Caleya 4, Flora Goed 14, Mariona Cos-Morales 2, Mesa Butler 3, Sandra Frau-Garcia 2, Meaza Otto 10, Julia Palomo 8, Ana Csenyi 13.
NJC 20 11 19 19 – 69
C. Wyo. 20 19 15 11 – 65
NJC
Neveah Speda 8, Seneya Martinez 12, Dalys McGuinnes 12, Kelsey Koza 2, Kenzie Kraich 2, Jailyn Potts 2, Genesis Sweetwine 10, Amya Winfrey 4, Bailee Hart 13, Alexandra Westerdijk 2, Erin Williams 2.
CENTRAL WYOMING
Criselle Mendoza 18, Kamya Jones 3, Ivana Bijic 15, Taylor Elam 2, Kalilsta Niu 10, Melanie Garcia 15, Alexis 2.
W. Wyoming 16 15 25 19 – 75
WNCC 23 12 15 22 – 72
WESTERN WYOMING
Kayde Strauss 17, Emma Patik 5, Hannah Harris 7, Leiana Thornton 11, Ashelynn Birch 15, Kayla Thornton 8, Tamryn Blom 10, Tayana Crowder 2.
WNCC
Shiho Isono 9, Jayla Owen 25, Bre Fowler 8, Mackenzie Joseph 3, Ola Duda 17, Faith Walker 2, Rashaan Smith 8.