After a slow start, the Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team put together a team effort in knocking off NJCAA No. 11-ranked College of Southern Idaho 82-77 Saturday afternoon in the final game of the Fairfield Inn Classic at Cougar Palace.
The win was the Cougars' sixth straight and moves WNCC to 9-1 on the season. CSI drops to 9-3 on the season.
WNCC, which trailed by as much of nine points in the second quarter, ended up outscoring the Golden Eagles in the last three quarters.
Laura Montiel, who had three big steals and two clutch 3-pointers in the game to finish with 12 points, said it was a big win. Montiel said there was a big difference between the two halves.
"I think in the first half, we might have been a little tired because yesterday (Friday) was a hard game," the freshman from Spain said. "In the second half we knew it was going to be a battle and we went out with the attitude of not giving up."
Women's basketball coach Isaac Lu said this was a big win for his team, especially in how they picked it up in the second half. WNCC shot 54 percent for the game, but the difference was on defense where CSI shot 54 percent in the first half, but the Cougar defense shut the Golden Eagles down, holding them to 37 percent in the second half and not allowing a 3-pointer.
"We came out a little bit slow in the first half, and we were fortunate to be down by single digits at the break," Lu said. "In the locker room we knew what we needed to do and that was to play better basketball. It came down to the simple things of bringing great energy, playing with great effort, and then communicating at a high level. That is what really helped us make the switch in the second half so we could get stops and make plays offensively."
Lu said the defensive intensity in the second half was just one of the reasons the Cougars won the contest.
"Defensively, looking at the stat sheet, they went 0-for-4 from the three in the second half and shot 36 percent compared to 54 percent in the first half," Lu said. "Our ball pressure and our effort to make sure we limited them to one shot was tremendous."
While the defense was key in the second half, the one thing that stood out was the ability of different players scoring during different times in the game. Montiel said when this team shares the ball, it makes it tough to defend.
"I think when we share the ball, anyone can score and it is way harder to defend," Montiel said. "We trust each other, and it helps that we know anyone can score points and that is amazing."
Lu even liked the way that different players came up big whether scoring, grabbing a rebound, or getting a steal. WNCC had eight steals in the contest as Montiel had three, but they also got clutch rebounds when they needed.
"We have so many different weapons and so many different players that can go get baskets in different ways so when teams want to guard us one way, we can to another play and have them be the one that is our primarily offensive weapon for the situation that we are facing."
If one breaks down the game from the start, the first half was one where the Cougars were struggling. CSI bolted to a 16-8 early in the first quarter and led 23-16 after the first 10 minutes.
In the second quarter, the Cougars trailed by nine points at 35-26 when Faith Walker made a bucket and then Montiel buried a trey to cut the deficit to 35-31. CSI bolted back to a 9-point lead, 40-31. The Cougars responded as Walker had back-to-back buckets to make it a 40-35 game and then Amiyah Donaldson made an old-fashioned 3-point play to make it a 42-38 contest. WNCC trailed at the break 44-40.
The second half saw the Cougars come out of the locker room with the same intensity they ended the first half with. WNCC took their first lead of the contest since scoring the first bucket of the contest when Gal-La Font had two driving lay-ups for a 47-46 lead with 7:40 to play.
CSI came back to lead 52-47 only to watch Mackenzie Joseph knock home back-to-back 3-pointers for a 53-52 lead. The lead see-sawed back and forth and the Cougars took the lead after three quarters on a Font bucket, 59-58.
Font put the Cougars up 62-58 to start the fourth as she banked in a 3-pointer from the top of the key. The Cougars pushed the lead to 68-62 as Kiley Smich scored three straight buckets. WNCC went up 73-67 after five straight points from Helena Kuck, including a trey with four minutes to play. WNCC led 77-69 with 90 seconds to play after a Joseph bucket.
The contest got tighter as CSI sliced the Cougar lead to 79-75. WNCC went up 80-75 after a free throw by Kuck and then had chances to add more points but missed clutch free throws. With the score at 80-75, and WNCC getting clutch rebounds off missed Golden Eagles shots, Montiel nailed two charity tosses with 6.9 seconds to seal the win.
The Cougars had three in double figures as Walker and Joseph each had 15 points while Montiel had 12 points. Font finished with nine second-half points, while Kuck had eight points.
WNCC, 9-1, will hit the road for three contests in the Border Wars Tournament in Gillette, Wyoming, Thursday through Saturday when they face Williston State, Dawson, and Miles Community College. WNCC will wrap up the first semester on December 14 when they host Laramie County Community College.
CSI (9-3) 23 21 14 19 – 77
WNCC (9-1) 16 24 19 23 – 82
CSI
Jayden McNeal 21, Brayli Jenks 7, Kaylee Headrick 14, Makeili Ika 6, Jamisyn Heaton 15, Kennedy Gillette 8, Mariah Mons 4, Taylor Johnson 2.
WNCC
Amiyah Donaldson 5, Helena Kuck 8, Gal-La Font 9, Faith Walker 15, Mackenzie Joseph 15, Ebere Egbirika 6, Laura Montiel 12, Kiley Smich 6, Adelina Urtane 6.