LAJUNTA, Colo. – Jayla Owen buried eight 3-pointers and Bre Fowler hit two free throws with six seconds remaining as the Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team remained unbeaten in South Sub-region play with a 76-72 win over Otero College Friday evening in LaJunta, Colorado.

                The Cougars moved to 13-7 on the season and remained unbeaten in conference play at 2-0.

                The Cougar women only trailed twice in the game, both in the first quarter, and quietly kept the Rattlers at bay from retaking the lead with a gutsy performance.

                Owen, who finished with 27 points and those eight 3-pointers was one trey shy of tying a school record, said the team played well after the first quarter.

                "The team played great after the first quarter. We started off a little slow in the first, but we were getting settled into the game," the freshman said. "Once we were warm and started to hit a couple of shots and move the ball around, the momentum picked up, especially on defense."

                Definitely, the defense was key in the second quarter and much of the second half.

                "Our defense and togetherness was the key to our win," Owen said. "We also hit a lot of threes in the second half and got to the foul line a lot through the game."

                WNCC buried 10 3-pointers in the game and was 18-of-32 from the charity stripe for the game.

                Otero made seven treys and was 17-of-21 from the stripe.

                The Cougars trailed 9-7 in the first quarter when Ola Duda hit two free throws followed by a bucket by Mackenzie Joseph and two free throws by Yara Garcia for a 13-11 lead after one period.

                The second quarter saw WNCC open the 10-minute period on a 13-2 run that started with a Garcia steal and bucket for a 26-13 lead. WNCC went on to lead 35-22 at halftime on a Jayla Owen 3-ponter, her first of the game.

                The third period was wild as both offenses heated up. WNCC led 49-36 on a Bre Fowler 3-pointer. Otero came back to go on a 10-0 run to slice the Cougar lead down to three at 49-46. WNCC led 54-48 after a Owen 3-pointer after three periods.

                The fourth quarter saw WNCC put up 22 points while Otero had 24 points. WNCC led by nine points on a couple of occasions, the last time at 72-61 after Owen banked in a trey and Joseph nailed one of two free throws.

                Otero came storming back as they sliced the lead to 73-69 and then just two points on a 3pointer with 8.6 seconds to play. Fowler was then fouled on the end-bound play and calmly buried both charity tosses for the 76-72 win.

                WNCC was led in scoring by Owen with 27 points followed by 12 points each from Fowler and Joseph.

                WNCC will continue the road trip when they travel to Trinidad, Colorado, to take on the Trinidad State College Trojans Saturday afternoon.

                "Against Trinidad we have to come out strong right from the jump and play aggressive defense. We have to share the ball, be confident in ourselves and play 40 minutes of great basketball," Owen said. "(Friday night) this team did great in the win. We stuck together throughout the game and that is what got us the win today. Jobs not done, though, we have another one to go win tomorrow (Saturday) versus Trinidad."

WNCC (13-7)     13 22 19 22 – 76

Otero (13-5)       11 11 26 24 – 72

WNCC

Bre Fowler 12, Shilo Isono 6, Jayla Owen 27, Yara Garcia 6, Mackenzie Joseph 12, Ola Duda 8, Faith Walker 5, Rashaan Smith 2.