POWELL, Wyo. – Faith Walker finished with a double-double and the Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team finished with 41 second-half points for a74-65 win over Northwest College at the Coach Collins Heart of a Champion Classic Friday evening.

                Walker finished the game with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Walker also had four steals to help move the Cougars to 5-1 overall as they wrap up the Collins Classic Saturday morning at 10 a.m. against Central Wyoming College.

                It was a tale of two halves for the Cougar women. The first half saw the Cougars only lead once and that was at 2-0 after a Helena Kuck bucket. After that, Northwest nailed three straight 3-pointers to lead 11-4. WNCC trailed by one after one period 16-15.

                The second quarter saw the Cougars get to within two points on a number of occasions and trailed at halftime 34-33.

                The second half was all Cougars. Northwest opened the third quarter leading 37-33. WNCC tied the game at 37-37 on two Laura Montiel free throws and took their first lead of the game since the opening bucket on a Montiel steal and bucket to lead 41-39. WNCC continued playing strong defensively as WNCC held Northwest to just 10 third-quarter points to lead 52-44 after three.

                The Cougars pushed the lead to nine points on a Mackenzie Joseph bucket at 57-48. Northwest came back to cu the deficit to three points 59-56 on a trey, but Cougars hit clutch free throws down the stretch for the 74-65 win.

                WNCC shot 47 percent from the field but only made 3-of-12 3-pointers. The Cougars won the contest at the free throw line as they buried 19-of-3o. Walker was 7-of-12 while Kuck was 5-of-5 and Ebere Egbirika was 6-of-9.

                WNCC won the rebound battle 31-28. Walker had 13 boards followed by Joseph, Kiley Smich, and Adelina Urtane each with four.

                The Cougars had three in double figures. After Walker's game-high 25 points, Egbirika had 12 points while Kuck had 11.

WNCC (5-1)       15 18 19 22 – 74
Northwest         16 18 10 21 – 65
WNCC
Amiyah Donaldson 7, Helena Kuck 11, Gal-La Font 3, Faith Walker 25, Mackenzie Joseph 7, Ebere Egbirika 12, Laura Montiel 2, Adelina Urtane 7.
NORTHWEST
Anna Knight 3, Kamalani Anitielu 15, Brayli Reimer 4, Carolina Ruiz 12, Jai'La Porter 2, Tayva Phillips 3, Roxanne Rogers 15, Kelsi Nicholson 4, Isabella Gurie 2, Bianca Silva 5.