The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team received a double-double night from Mackenzie Joseph as the Cougars used a strong second-quarter defensive effort in capturing a 96-54 South Sub-region win over Otero College Friday night at Cougar Palace.

                Joseph added four 3-pointers and was perfect for the charity stripe as WNCC improved to 16-8 overall and 4-1 in the sub-region.

                "I feel that we played together as a team tonight," Joseph said. "We shared the ball to help give our team the best shots tonight."

                The win was important as it moved the Cougars into first place in the south sub-region a game ahead of Otero while Otero drops to 5-2. WNCC will have another sub-region contest Saturday when they host Trinidad State College, the team that defeated the Cougars a couple weeks ago. Tip-off for that game is set for 2 p.m. and Joseph said these two games are important in their goal to win the sub-region and host the regional tournament.

                "This game and the next game we play are very important. This was a huge win for us," the freshman from Louisiana said. "I feel that we need to play the exact same way we played tonight and even more. We want to host regions so beating Trinidad will help us accomplish that."

                The first quarter was a battle as WNCC led 9-3 before Otero came back to take a 10-9 lead and then 12-11 and then 15-13. That was when WNCC got hot, as Joseph had an old-fashioned 3-point play followed by buckets by Bre Fowler and Ola Duda to lead 20-15 after one quarter.

                The second quarter was all WNCC as they ran to a 25-15 lead before Otero's Katia Nekic hit a trey. That bucket by Otero was would be it for nearly six or seven minutes as the Cougars defense stifled the Rattlers. Offensively, the Cougars went on a 18-0 run that was led by two treys by Joseph and a 3-pointer by Fowler to lead 43-18. WNCC led 47-25 at halftime.

                WNCC never looked back after that as WNCC outscored Otero 25-17 after three quarters and then outscored the Rattlers 25-11 in the final period.

                WNCC buried 12 3-pointers on the day with Joseph with four and three by Fowler and two each by Shiho Isono and Yara Garcia.

                WNCC had five in double figures, led by Joseph. Isono chipped in 17 points followed by 13 from Fowler, 12 from Duda, and 10 from Garcia.

Otero                    15 10 18 11 – 54

WNCC                   20 17 24 24 – 95

OTERO
Anna Cera 9, Paige Johnson 2, Savannah Lang 6, Katia Nekic 2, Gia Bradley 14, Camrella Jefferson 8, Jaycie Casebolt 1, Hedda Kohne 11, Jennifer Jaramillo 1.
WNCC

Shiho Isono 17, Jayla Owen 9, Yara Garcia 10, Bre Fowler 13, Mackenzie Joseph 21, Ola Duda 12, Faith Walker 5, Rashaan Smith 8.