RIVERTON, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team received 16 points from Helena Kuck including five 3-pointers enroute to a 75-69 win over Gillette College in the Tip-Off Classic in Riverton, Wyoming, Friday evening.

                The win was the team's second of the young season and they had to battle back from a fourth-quarter deficit to get the win.

                The Cougars will finish off the Comfort Inn Classic when they battle Central Wyoming College on Saturday at Tip-Off Classic. Central Wyoming topped the Wyoming All-stars in the late game of the classic 93-51.

                WNCC's win was one where they had to battle back from a couple of deficits, including the first quarter when Gillette had a 14-4 lead with 3:15 to play in the opening quarter. Amiyah Donaldson started the comeback with a 3-pointer and then Adelina Urtane buried a trey to bring the Cougars to within 14-12. After a bucket by Gillette, WNCC closed out the scoring on a steal by Gal-La Font and then Kuck buried a triple to end the first quarter with WNCC up 17-16.

                The second quarter saw the Cougars bolt to a 30-21 lead behind a trey by Font and then some good defensive play as Laura Montiel had a steal and fed Donaldson with the ball and then Urtane stole and went in for the lay-up. Gillette came back to cut the Pronghorn deficit to just 30-28, but just like in the first quarter, Kuck buried a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give the Cougars the 33-28 halftime lead.

                The third quarter saw WNCC fall behind 41-38 and later at 47-45. Kiley Smich started the comeback with a bucket followed by a bucket by Faith Walker and then Kuck buried a trey. Smich finished off the 9-0 run with a steal and bucket to help the Cougars lead 54-49 after three.

                The fourth quarter saw WNCC trail 61-60. That was when Walker went wild with five straight points to put WNCC up 65-61. Smich then had an old-fashioned 3-point play for a 68-61 lead. Kuck buried her fourth trey to make it 71-63 and the Cougars went on to capture the 75-69 win.

                WNCC buried nine 3-pointers in the contest led by Kuck with five. WNCC shot 37.7 percent from the field.

                The Cougars had four in double figures. After Kuck's 16, Font had 12 followed by 11 each from Mackenzie Joseph and Urtane. Smich and Walker each had nine points.

WNCC                 17 16 21 21 – 75

Gillette                16 12 21 20 – 69

WNCC

Amiyah Donaldson 3, Helena Kuck 16, Gal-La Font 12, Faith Walker 9, Mackenzie Joseph 11, Ebere Egbirika 3, Keyla Cervantes 0, Laura Montiel 1, Kiley Smich 9, Adelina Urtane 11.

GILLETTE

Jada Johnson 4, Alyssa Beckford 10, Abby Leahy 8, Qaizden Stephano 10, Andrea Martin 5, Marija Marinkovic 15, Dasani Nesbit 12, Malena Edwards 4.