Records mean very little when the Highway 26 battle between Western Nebraska Community College and Eastern Wyoming College takes place.
That is the case Tuesday as WNCC will host the other team from Torrington, Wyoming, in a men's and women's doubleheader beginning at 5:30 p.m. at Cougar Palace.
Of the four teams that will be at Cougar Palace on Tuesday, the Cougar women are the only ones that had the weekend off. The week break was needed as the Cougars have a tough week ahead.
"There is no better way to spend a Tuesday night than playing against our border rivals, Ewc, and we can't wait to get back in the gym and play at home," sophomore Faith Walker said. "We are eager to play at home because we haven't been there since November 1st. Being on our own court and not having to travel will be a welcome break."
After Tuesday's contest, The Cougars are at home for the Fairfield Classic in which they will face nationally prominent teams in Casper College and the College of Southern Idaho. Walker said it will be a big week for the Lady Cougars.
"We have huge games coming up that we can win, so we just need to keep working hard in practice and putting in extra effort outside of it," she said. "We also need to maintain mental and physical focus to play to our best ability."
WNCC enters the contest at 6-1 while the Lancer women are 3-6 after dropping three straight over the weekend to Salt Lake Community College (65-55), Utah State Eastern (116-62), and Odessa College (97-48).
The Cougars' only defeat came November 10 to Western Wyoming Community College 73-56. Since then, WNCC has reeled off three straight victories, topping Laramie County Community College 80-61, Northwest College 74-65, and Central Wyoming College 80-68.
Walker said they will need to be a little more aggressive and not make mistakes this week.
"We need to play cougar basketball, share the ball, and transition," she said. "In every position, in my opinion, superior to most, so maybe we can take use of it and make more trips to the basket and be more aggressive on defenses."
The one thing about the Cougar women is they have a balanced scoring output. WNCC has four players averaging in double figures and a fifth player at 9.1 points a game in Mackenzie Joseph. The Cougars are led by Ebere Egbirika at 11.6 points a contest followed closely behind by Walker at 10.7, Helena Kuck at 10.3, and Amiyah Donaldson at 10.
What stands out about this Cougar women's team is 10 of the 12 players have made a 3-pointer. As a team, the Cougars have made 56 treys, led by Kuck with 17 3-pointers followed by Joseph with 11 and Donaldson with 10.
As for EWC, the Lancers have two in double figures in Hailey Long at 13.4 points and Ali Tripp at 10.2. Andrea Gutierrez Ciordia is next at 8.0 points.
The Lancers are also a 3-point shooting machine, having buried 60 treys, led by Long and Tripp with 13 and 12 treys respectively.
Against EWC, they just need to be crisp.
"In addition to moving the ball around and making excellent shots," she said. "we're also aiming to play inside out, go to the basket more, create plays without the ball, and press harder."
As for the men's contest, the Cougar men come in with a 4-5 record after earning a last-second 62-61 win over Colorado Northwestern on Saturday. WNCC also captured a come from behind win 99-95 double overtime win over Northwest College where they scored nine points in 25 minutes to force overtime.
The Cougar men had three road games last week where they competed hard, but came up on the short end in two of the contests. WNCC fell to Western Wyoming 81-74 and then to nationally-ranked College of Southern Idaho 75-68 before topping Colorado Northwestern.
WNCC has four players in double figures. JJ Harris leads the team at 13 points a contest while Maurice Walker is averaging 11.8 and Daniel Bula is at 11.7. Kayden Nation is at 10 points a contest.
The Cougar men have connected on 79 treys this season and held their opponents to just 61 made long balls. Walker has buried 26 treys while Harris has made 23.
The EWC men come in at 1-6 having dropped their last four games. Their only win of the season came to Jump Start Academy 95-76 on the road. The last four games included falling to Salt Lake Community College 113-57, Utah State-Eastern 84-67, Colorado Northwestern 91-89, and Snow College 101-74.
The Lancers can score, though, despite their record. Micah Glover leads the team with a 20.1 point average followed by Makhiah Tarver at 13.7 points and Jules Teboul at 13.5. Also averaging in double figures is Julius Crosby at 11.3 points a contest.
The Lancers have only made 54 3-pointers this season while given up 63. Glover had buried 18 treys followed by Tarver with 11.
After Tuesday's contests, The Lancers are home Friday and Saturday when they host McCook and North Platte, while the Cougar men will be home Friday when they host Jump Start Academy.