The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team dropped its first game of the season to Casper College 74-61 Saturday at Cougar Palace.

                The contest was one of runs by both teams. Casper shot 45 percent from the field while WNCC was 36 percent.

                Casper had four players in double figures, led by Luna Ueda with 17 and Andi Schissler with 13, while WNCC was led by Zozefine Sipolina with 14 followed by Helena Kuck with 11 and Nataly Dunka with 10. Laura Montiel and Adelina Urtane also poured in nine points.

                Other than that, the statistics were pretty equal between the two teams. WNCC was out-rebounded 42-38, led by Urtane's seven boards. The Cougars also buried eight treys to seven for Casper. Kuck hit three triples while Sipolina and Dunka each had two.

                WNCC started the contest where they had trouble making a shot as the T-birds raced to a 13-5 lead. WNCC found their groove as they scored seven straight, beginning with a trey by Kuck to trail 13-12. WNCC trailed after the first 10 minutes 17-14.

                The second quarter was back and forth as WNCC took their first lead of the game at 26-25 on a Siplolina trey with 3:23 to play. Casper, however, closed out the half on an 8-0 run to lead 33-26 at intermission.

                Casper went on a 12-2 to start the third period to lead 45-28. WNCC battled back to slice the deficit to seven, 49-42, on five points from Montiel. Casper led 58-47 after three periods.

                The final period saw Casper outscore the Cougars 16-14 to get the win.

                WNCC, 2-1, will be back in action next week with three contests. The Cougars will travel to Torrington, Wyoming, on Tuesday to face Eastern Wyoming College. They then will host the Cougar Classic on Friday and Saturday when four teams come to town. WNCC will play Laramie County Community College on Friday night and EWC Saturday afternoon.

Casper               17 16 25 16 – 74
WNCC                14 12 21 14 – 61
CASPER
Andi Schissler 13, Saioa San Francisco 12, Arantxa Concepcion 6, Adama Badjie Coly 10, Luna Ueda 17, Hassana Amadu 2, Marina Concepcion 2, Alexandra Acs 2, Olivia Ogston 2, Csenge Szomszed 8.
WNCC
Helena Kuck 11, Laura Montiel 9, Adelina Urtane 9, Zozefine Sipolina 14, Lidia Hernandez 4, Asia Mitchell 4, Nataly Dunka 10.