The No 24-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team buried 13 3-pointers and remained unbeaten in South Sub-region play with a 76-58 win over Northeastern Junior College at Cougar Palace on Monday.

                WNCC moves to 18-5  and 5-0 in the South Sub-region with the win.  It was the Cougars' fifth straight win. WNCC will continue playing with a game Tuesday at 5 p.m. against the Colorado State Club team at Cougar Palace.

                WNCC had three players finish with double-figure scoring. Zozefine Sipolina led the way with 20 points including four 3-pointers. Laura Montiel finished with 18 points and three 3-pointers, while Helena Kuck had 15 points with five 3-pointers.

                Adelina Urtane was close to double figures with nine points. Urtane led the team with 10 rebounds.

                WNCC started slow in the contest trailing 10-3 and later 16-11. That was when the Cougars went on a 8-0 run to grab their first lead of the game at 17-16 with a bucket by Lidia Hernandez. WNCC led 19-18 after the first quarter.

                WNCC started the second quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers from Montiel and Kuck for a 25-18 lead. NJC came back to make it 25-23. The Cougars came right back and went up double digits with a 9-0 run that was started with back-to-back triples from Sipolina and Urtane. The Cougars led at halftime 40-30.

                The second half was back and forth with WNCC outscoring NJC 15-10. WNCC went up 55-38 on a Montiel 3-pointer and led after three quarters 55-40.

                The Cougars pushed the lead to 21 points in the fourth quarter, 63-42, on a Nataly Dunka bucket.  And led 76-50 late on an Asia Mitchell bucket.

                WNCC shot 45 percent from the field and 41 percent from beyond the arc (13-of-32). NJC shot 37 percent from the field and were just 18  percent (2-of-11) from the arc.

                Both teams shot 50 percent from the free throw line with WNCC connecting on seven charity tosses to six for NJC.

                WNCC and NJC each had 41 rebounds. Urtane led the Cougars in rebounding with 10 board followed by Sipoloina with eight and Hernandez with seven.

NJC                       18 12 10 18 – 58
WNCC (18-5)         19 21 15 21 – 76
NJC
Belle Peterson 20, Abby Leahy 7, Daniela Garcia Gasco 13, Anisa Turner 5, Natalie Moore 8, Megan Drews 3, Rebecca Wiersema 2.
WNCC
Lidia Hernandez 4, Helena Kuck 15, Laura Montiel 18, Adelina Urtane 9, Nataly Dunka 7, Asia Mitchell 3, Zozefine Sipolina 20.