TORRINGTON, Wyo. – The 24th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team put four in double figures in racing to a 78-67 win over Eastern Wyoming College Monday evening.
The win was the Cougar's 12th straight win and pushed the Cougars to 15-1 on the season. The Lancers drop to 6-11 on the season.
Gal-La Font and Ebere Egbirika paced the Cougars with 15 points each while Faith Walker pumped in 14, and Mackenzie Joseph finished with 10.
Font, who had a strong contest finishing with five steals and five rebounds, said it wasn't their best contest but it was a win.
"I think it wasn't our best game but I think it is most important that we pushed through it," Font said. "We have been practicing and we had a lot of games so we are a little tired and we ended up getting through it which is all that matters."
WNCC only trailed a couple of times in the contest and that was at the beginning of the game. After that, the Cougars kept the lead except for a second-quarter tie at 25-25. The Cougars fought through the little things that mogged them down and Font said it was huge that they kept fighting through it all.
"It was important that we fought in this game in the middle of the season since later in the season we will face some harder teams," Font said. "I am just glad we got the win."
The contest started off as both teams were hitting shots early as EWC led 4-3 and then 6-5. WNCC buried a trey that started an 8-0 run to lead 136 and pushed it to 19-8 on an Egbirika old-fashioned 3-point play. The Cougars went up 22-11 on an Amiyah Donaldson triple.
The Lancers came storming back with an 8-0 run to cut the deficit to 22-19. Faith Walker hit one free throw to stop the scoring run, but EWC's Nikolina Vukcevic buried a 3-pointer to make it 23-22 WNCC after the first quarter.
The second quarter saw Egbirika hit a bucket off a steal but Luna Moreno buried a trey to tie the game at 25-25. WNCC scored eight straight and went on a 15-3 run that saw the Cougars widen the lead to 40-28. WNCC led 41-32 at halftime.
WNCC came out of the locker room ready to play as they scored 10 quick points to lead 51-36. EWC fought back as they out-scored WNCC 21-18 in the third period and a Kopilevich bucket late in the third made it a 3-point deficit for the Lancers at 56-53. Helene Kuck changed the momentum as she buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Cougars a 59-53 lead after three.
EWC kept battling in the fourth quarter as Hailey Long made a 3-pointer to bring the Lancers back to within three at 61-58. WNCC would go on an 8-0 run that included strong play from Font, who made a bucket with 5:51 to play and a 69-58 lead.
EWC tried coming back as they cut the lead to 73-65 with 1:27 to play, but the Cougars scored five straight to seal the win.
Walker had a double-double in the contest. Along with her 14 points, she also pulled down 13 rebounds and had two blocks. Laura Montiel, who had six points, finished with seven steals.
EWC was led in scoring by Moreno with 15 points followed by Long with 12 and Tawny Rodriguez with 10.
WNCC will be back in action Wednesday afternoon when they face Western Wyoming Community College at Cougar Palace with a 4 p.m. start followed by a road trip to Casper College on Friday.
The Lancers will open North Sub-region play this weekend when they host Laramie County Community College on Friday and then Gillette College on Saturday.
WNCC (15-1) 23 18 18 19 – 78
EWC (6-7) 22 10 21 14 – 67
WNCC
Amiyah Donaldson 8, Ebere Egbirika 15, Helene Kuck 9, Gal-La Font 15, Laura Montiel 6, Faith Walker 14, Mackenzie Joseph 10, Adelina Urtane 1,
EWC
Sofia Mokofisi 8, Tamar Kopilevich 4, Luna Moreno 15, Emma Jimenez 9, Ali Tripp 2, Tawny Rodriguez 10, Andrea Gutierrez Ciordia 4, Nikolina Vukcevic 3, Hailey Long 12.