The 19th ranked Western Nebraska Community college women’s basketball team received 19 points from Helena Kuck and Zozefine Sipolina enroute to an 65-55 win over Eastern Wyoming College on Thursday at the Region IX tournament at Cougar Palace.
                Other quarterfinal scores in the tournament saw Gillette College trail McCook 52-28 after three quarters and then outscored the Indians 34-10 to force overtime and then won 69-68 for the win.
                Casper College moved into the semis with a 59-45 win over Northeastern Junior College followed by Western Wyoming winning an offensive shootout with Trinidad State College 85-83.
                The semifinals on Friday at Cougar Palace will pit Casper against Gillette at 5 p.m. and WNCC battling Western Wyoming at 7 p.m. The winners advance to Saturday championship game at 5 p.m.
                WNCC’s win over EWC was a battle as the Cougars trailed 13-9 in the first and closed out the first quarter on a 6-0 run to lead 15-13.
                The second quarter saw the Lancers outscore the Cougars 10-7 to lead 23-22 at intermission.
                The second half saw a different Cougar team. The third quarter saw WNCC outscore EWC 18-15 to lead 40-38. The fourth quarter saw WNCC never trail as the Cougars opened the fourth with three straight 3-pointers, two from Kuck and one from Sipolina to lead 49-41.
                WNCC pushed the lead to nine points, 58-49, on a Laura Montiel bucket. EWC came back and made it a 5-point contest at 58-53, but the Cougars went 7-of-8 from the free throw line to get the 10-point win. WNCC only shot 35 percent for the game but buried eight 3-pointers, from Kuck.
                Kuck now has 151 career 3-pointers made, which is just nine from tying Merle Wiehl for made treys. Wiehl buried 160 3-pointers from 2017-19. Sipolina now has 91 made threes in a season, which is second behind Wiehl, who hit 121 triples in the 2018-19 season.
                Kuck and Sipolina each had 19 points followed by Montiel with 16 points. Montiel also had seven rebounds and six steals. Lidia Hernandez led the team with 11 rebounds.
                The Cougars will face Western Wyoming in the semifinals who had five players in double figures led by Austyn Feller with 23 points. Feller also pulled down 10 rebounds.
                The Mustangs also got 20 points from Sierra Eddie, who had three triples. Also netting double digits for the Mustangs were Kaylee Hess with 13, and Kayle Thonton and Zipaya Somsen each with 10 points.
                That contest started out as a track meet as Trinidad led in the first 21-9 before Western Wyoming closed out the first quarter on an 11-0 run to trail 21-20 after the first 10 minutes.
                Western Wyoming started the second quarter with five points to lead 25-21 and then each team started trading buckets. The Mustangs led 48-40 at halftime.
                The third quarter saw Trinidad outscore Western Wyoming 27-20. The Mustangs led 57-46 and that was when the Trojans went on a 13-2 run to tie the game at 59. Trinidad took their first lead of the game since the first quarter at 67-65 on a bucket by Violeta Rojas. Western Wyoming came back and hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Eddie for the 68-67 lead.
                The fourth quarter was wild as Trinidad led 74-71. Western Wyoming came back to take an 80-76 lead. Trinidad tied the game at 80 and led 83-82 with a minute to play. Feller hit a bucket with later to put Western Wyoming up 84-83 and then Eddie hit a free throw with 11 seconds for the 2-point margin. Trinidad couldn’t get the tying bucket.
                The other crazy game was the McCook and Gillette first game of the day. McCook scored the first nine points and then closed out the first quarter on an 11-0 run to lead 22-4 after one period.
                McCook stayed strong in the second as they had a 33-12 lead and led 33-15 at intermission.
                The third quarter saw McCook widen its lead. The Indians led by 20 points at 44-24 and then went on an 8-0 run to lead 52-24. McCook led 52-28 after three.
                Gillette decided to come and play in the fourth, outscoring McCook 34-10. It was a 60-50 McCook lead when the Pronghorns went on a 10-0 run to tie the game on a Rochelle Afo-Manuma steal and bucket with 15 seconds to play. McCook’s Madara Liepnience made a falling down shot with .6 seconds left for a 62-60 lead. Gillette called time out and inbounded the ball at mid-court. Afo-Manuma got a shot off with .2 seconds left to tie the game at 62 and force overtime.
                In the 5-minute extra period, Gillette took their first lead of the game at a couple times. McCook led 68-66 with under a minute to play on a 3-pointer by Liepnience. Gillette’s Abbie Nickell hit a shot with 20-5 seconds to tie the game and then Brlyn Springer was fouled on a play that saw Springer going to the crowd and hit one free throw with 3.2 seconds for the 69-68 win.
                Johanna Gerlach led McCook with 19 points while Arna Bright led Gillette with 19 points and four 3-pointers.
                The Casper and Northeastern Junior College game was close in the first quarter as Casper led 12-10 before closing out the first on a 6-0 run to lead 18-10.
                The second quarter saw Casper outscore NJV 13-10 to lead 31-20 at intermission.
                NJC outscored Casper 14-11 to trail 42-34 after three. But the fourth quarter saw Casper outscore NJC 17-11 for the 59-45 win.
                Casper was led by Andi Schissler with 14 points followed by Adama Badjie Coly with 13. NJC was led by Bella Peterson with 22 points.  
 
Game 4
EWC                     13 10 15 17 – 55
WNCC                15 7 18 25 – 65
WNCC
Lidia Hernandez 4, Helena Kuck 19, Laura Montiel 16, Zozefine Sipolina 19, Nataly Dunka 7.
EWC
Leamsi Acuna 19, Boden Liljedahl 4, Tawny Rodriguez 2, Ariadna Martinez 6, Nikolina Vukcevic 8, Aliya Tripp 5, Yaiza Paredes 11.
 
WNCC men top Northwest, advance to semis of regional tourney
 
                GILLETTE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College put together another strong defensive as the Cougars advanced to the Region IX Men’s Tournament semifinals with an 86-67 win over Northwest College Thursday evening in Gillette, Wyoming.
                Three Cougars led the way for the Cougars with 19 points. Mathiang Maker tallied a double-double with 19 points and 16 rebounds, while Elijah Burney and Kellon Harris each had 19 points.
                WNCC advances to face North top seed Gillette College in one of the semifinals on Friday. That game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip. The other semifinal will pit Casper College against Trinidad State at 5 p.m. Casper College was a 90-73 winner over Lamar Community College while Trinidad State topped Laramie County 95-69.
                The WNCC men came ready to play as they jumped all over Northwest in the first half, grabbing a 42-22 halftime lead. The second half was an evenly played contest with Northwest outscoring the Cougars 45-44.
                Shooting was the difference in the game. WNCC shot 52 percent from the field and 46 percent from beyond the arc. The Cougars buried 10 3-pointers. Northwest only shot 36 percent from the field and were 21 percent from the 3-point arc. The Trappers made just five triples.
               
WNCC                                42 44 – 86
Northwest                        22 45 – 67
WNCC
Kellon Harris 19, Elijah Hollins 11, Mathiang Maker 19, Elijah Burney 19, Toms Linis 6,Noah Jones 5, Isaiah St. Preux 5, Witold Czerenkiewicz 2.
NORTHWEST
Tresloch Thong 1, Preston Condie 13, Trey Rinn 6, Drew Larson 16, Colin Hayes 7, Kaden Christensen 8, Tate Monroe 12, Eli Patterson 2, Ruben Bos 2.