The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team will begin the season November 1 at home with a different make-up of players.
The Cougars, who had a 21-9 record a year ago after they lost in the first-round of the Region IX tournament, have six sophomores and plenty of talented freshmen that has second-year head coach Isaac Lu excited to get the season started.
"We are all excited to get started," Lu said. "the pre-season can be a grind at times when we are not yet playing official games, but we right around the corner now so every single day of preparation is a day for us to get better. You have to always understand that and take advantage of those opportunities so once it really matters we are ready to get going."
The Cougars will begin the season Wednesday, November 1 when they host the Colorado State Club team at Cougar Palace with a 5 p.m. tipoff time. Lu said the team is excited to start the season for real after a series of pre-season jamborees in October, the last on Friday against Chadron State College.
"We had a very solid two and a half months of preparing from the time we got on campus and I am excited to see what we will accomplish once the seasons starts rolling," Lu said. "We are getting better at the things we want to be good at. Of course, there will always be something that we need to continue to improve and it is constantly a work in progress, but the progress made in the past two months is very encouraging."
WNCC's roster is a little different with six sophomores, two of which were major contributors a year ago with 5-foot-11 Mackenzie Joseph of Vinton, Louisiana, and 6-0 Faith Walker of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
WNCC also has two sophomores academically that were a part of the team a year ago, but redshirted because of injuries and both are ready to go this year. Those two include 5-7 Jamie Caron of Rifle, Colorado, and 6-0 Gal-La Font for Barcelona, Spain.
The other two sophomores are transfers. They are 5-7 Amiyah Donaldson of Cleveland, Ohio, who spent a year at the University of Charleston, as well as 6-0 Keyla Cervantes of Tolleson, Arizona, who spent last year at Yavapai College.
"I am excited for our sophomores for sure," Lu said. "They have done a good job of setting the expectations and setting the standards of how we want things to be done in our program. Of course you have two red-shirt freshman that have sat out last year and I am excited for them to come in and play in the season.
"Of course we have Mackenzie and Faith who played some important rolls for our team last season and they have made a pretty impressive jump from year one to year two so far. Then the two transfers will provide some good experience. We have a good group of sophomores that will help lead the way as we start the season in a week."
With those six sophomores and a talented freshmen group, Lu is excited about the make-up of the team this year.
The freshman newcomers include Faith Walker's sister Trinity. Trinity is a 5-10 guard from Grand Rapids, Michigan. Other players to watch include 5-11 Adelina Urtane of Aizkraukle, Latvia; 5-4 Katie Vierra of Berthoud, Colorado; 5-8 Kiley Smich of Littleton, Colorado; 5-8 Laura Montiel of Granada, Spain; 5-5 Helena Kuck of Blumenau, Brazil; and 5-8 Ebere Egbirika of London, England.
"I think we have two good freshmen point guards for us," Lu said. "Helena, who is from Brazil, is a great shooter and can control the game for us offensively. I am excited to see her get on the floor for the first time. Then Laura from Spain is a lockdown defender and really makes plays happen. She is a player that impacts winning. When you have point guards that bring different looks to the team, it makes the other teams hard to prepare for one thing.
"Then, from other positions, we have Adelina from Latvia who can really shoot the ball, athletic, and defends at a high level. She has played at a high level. Other freshman to watch is Ebere from the UK who is athletic and gets to the basket. We also have Kiley from Colorado who really gets to the basket. We have some good athletes on this team because it fits what we want to do which is get up and down the floor and it is a matter of getting better at those things every single day."
What Lu likes about this year's team is how hard they are working and how they are connected.
"From a team standpoint, they have developed a really nice chemistry bond off the floor and that has really helped us on the floor as well," Lu said. "Whenever we compete in practice, they really get after it and push each other to get better. We have many, many good players on this team who make it a battle in practice every single day whether we are competing in offense, defense, or all the little things that we want to work on. I am really excited to see this group put it all together from understanding what everyone is good at and letting them understand of what they will be good at too.
Lu sees this team being a more up-tempo team with some hard-nosed defensive play.
"We want to play fast and we want to play in transition," Lu said. "I think that fits to our greatest strength which is we will be able to use our athleticism to beat the teams down the floor for easy layups, push the tempo of the game with our defensive pressure, and always constantly and playing together and using each others strengths to get the best shot for our team on any given possession. We need to play freely and play fast and we have some unselfish players that make the right decisions on the floor for our team."
After Wednesday, the Cougars will hit the road for a pair of games in Riverton, Wyoming, against Gillette College and Central Wyoming College. The Cougars will only have five home games in the first semester. The second home contest will be November 28 against Eastern Wyoming College followed by the Fairfield Inn Classic when the Cougars will face Casper College and the College of Southern Idaho. WNCC will wrap up the first semester when they face Laramie County Community College on December 14.