The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team lead from start to finish in putting four players in double figures in the 75-59 win over Eastern Wyoming College Tuesday night at Cougar Palace.
The win pushed the Cougars to 5-4 on the season but, more importantly, stopped a 2-game losing skid. The win was a complete team effort with everyone contributing in some fashion.
WNCC head coach Ryan Davis said the way the team played Tuesday showed a lot of character.
“It comes down to playing harder and committing to the game plan that we’ve put together,” Davis said. “We talked a lot about mental preparation and just being ready to go tonight and I think they were really prepared even before the game started. We started better and then it flowed through the whole rest of the game.”
Something WNCC did Tuesday against EWC was start strong in the first quarter. WNCC jumped to a 14-4 lead as Celina Donyo had six points and Zozefine SIpolina buried back-to-back 3-pointers. EWC made a mini run, cutting the deficit to 14-11, but Dunja Stojanovic buried a triple and the Cougars led 19-14 after one.
After that, the team hit shots and had mini runs to keep the Lancers at bay. Davis said the start in the first quarter was crucial and it just carried over to the other quarters.
“They did a really good job of just jumping out to an early lead and we talked about the beginning of the game and then we talk about the beginning of the second half being really important. It kind of sets the tone,” Davis said. “I think the 19 points (in the first quarter) shows you that they were mentally prepared for the game and we weren’t last night (Monday night).
The second quarter was a battle as EWC cut the deficit to 19-18 on a Yaiza Paredes bucket. WNCC responded with five points, but the Cougar lead was trimmed to two, 26-24. That was when WNCC went on a 10-0 run that included two old-fashioned 3-point plays for a 36-24 lead. WNCC led at half 36-28.
The third quarter saw EWC score the first two buckets but then the Cougars started to light up from behind the arc as freshman Juseana-Rae Delatori made three 3-pointers within a 2-minute period for a 46-34 lead. WNCC led 53-39 after three periods.
Delatori said it was a big team win and it felt good that their shots were doing down.
“I haven’t shot like that since high school and being able to finally get my threes back, it felt really good and I got my confidence back,” the freshman from Hawaii said.
WNCC made just one 3-pointer in the overtime loss to Miles Community College on Monday and Tuesday night, the Cougars shot 35 percent from the 3-point area as they buried seven triples. WNCC also shot 40 percent from the field and were 16-of-24 from the charity stripe.
Donyo and Charisma Johnson led the Cougars with 17 points apiece. Donyo also had six rebounds in the win while Johnson had four rebounds, two assists, and five steals to go with her 17 points. Delatori added 13 points with three triples while Ella Chesta-Carty had 12 points with six boards.
EWC had three in double figures, led by Yaiza Paredes with 18 points and Madison Bush-Lewis with 17. Ariadna Martinez tallied 14 points.
WNCC will have a couple days off before they head to Cheyenne for the LCCC Thanksgiving Classic where they will play Central Wyoming College on Friday and Laramie County Community College on Saturday.
EWC, dropped to 4-6 and will be back in action Friday and Saturday at Gillette, Wyoming, for a tourney where they will face Miles on Friday and Lake Region State College on Saturday.
    Davis said he is just proud of how the team bounced back from falling in overtime in back-to-back games.
“I’m just proud of the bounce back,” Davis said. “We fought. We were down eight with four minutes yesterday (Monday night) and I told them that even though we lost (against Miles), the fight was good and we need that fight through the whole game. This win is a big kind of statement kind of thing. If you can’t bounce back after last night and show you’ll fight, then we’re in trouble and they did a great job."

EWC 14 14 11 20 – 59
WNCC 19 17 17 22 – 75
EWC
Rhia Sagger 4, Madison Bush-Lewis 17, Ariadna Martinez 14, Yaiza Paredes 18, Ilalsaane Davis.
WNCC
Celina Donyo 17, Veralyn Aviles 3, Charisma Johnson 17, Zozefine Sipolina 6, Ella Chesta-Carty 12, Dunja Sipolina 6, Juseana-Rae Delatori 13, Aniaya Burton-Herandez 2, Brynn Sybrant 2.

WNCC men win the battle of Highway 26 in topping EWC

Viktor Lukic-Gavric scored 24 points and the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball put together a solid effort in registering the 87-78 win over Eastern Wyoming College Tuesday night at Cougar Palace.
WNCC placed four in double figures in the win while burying 11 3-pointers. Lukic-Gavric had four 3-pointers for his 24 points. He also had five rebounds, four assists, and three steals.
WNCC also got 18 points from Amare Jackson followed by Isaiah St. Preux with 15 and Melchi Egbeyemi with 13.
EWC shot 47 percent from the field and made just seven triples. The Lancers had four in double figures led by Toney Collins with 15 followed by Drezdon Jensen with 14, Jairon Speights with 15, and Drezdon with 14.
WNCC head coach Roybell Baez said he was proud of the way the guys fought to get wins on back-to-back nights. Monday night the Cougars downed Miles and Tuesday night they had to battle back from an 8-point deficit to down EWC.
“Back-to-back nights and we closed it out and we took care of the ball,” Baez said. “We moved the ball. We’re getting the ball to the right person and it’s something that early on we really weren’t doing at a high level. I feel like now they’re starting to understand that you have to play team basketball.”
A lot of the success that they have had the last couple games lies with the defense. The team has been giving up 90 and 100 points a contest and the past two wins, the opponents have been held to only the 70s. Baez said a lot of that goes to assistant coach Trey Winkler.
“The last two games we gave up 73 and 78 points after averaging about 93 and that is a huge turn around. We’ve switched things up and credit that to Coach (Trey) Winkler. He’s young and I’ve been in his position as far as being a young assistant and you try not to overstep your boundaries. I was like “’man I need you to be more vocal and tell me what youi think we should do. He threw some ideas out there as far as defense and I was like ‘let’s do it’. I said if you believe in it, I’ll believe in it and they’ve been working so far. So, kudos to him. Winning at any level is hard and it takes to do that not only from the guys but from the coaching staff and I take pride in saying that I don’t have an ego. I really don’t. I want to win for the guys, and if that means that we take ideas from here and and ideas from there, then that is what we will do if it’s going to help us win.”
EWC led 11-5 early in the first half and pushed the lead to 23-16. WNCC kept fighting and went on a 13-5 run to take the lad at 29-26 on 3-pointers from Lukic-Gavric and Melchi Egbeyemi to go ahead 29-26. WNCC went on to lead at halftime 35-30.
The second half saw EWC cut the deficit to 40-39 after six straight points. The two teams were knotted at 53, gut the Cougars came back to take a 10-point lead at 67-57 as they outscored EWC 14-4 run to lead 67-57.
The last five minutes became intense as EWC trailed 72-63 and then went on an 8-0 run to trail 74-7e with 3:58 to play. WNCC responded with a 9-point run to go up 83-72 and won 87-78.
WNCC will have two weeks off before they head to Ephraim, Utah, to face Snow College on December 12 and then Utah State Eastern on December 13.

EWC 30 48 – 78
WNCC 35 52 – 87
EWC
Lorenzo Major 3, Dresdon Jensen 14, LaThario Miller 9, Vukasin Spasojevic 2, Isiaih Ayala 11, Ryan Aye 7, Jaironn Speighs 14, Nathan Mirich 3, Toney Collins 15.
WNCC
Melchi Egbeyemi 13, Isaiah St. Preux 15, Amare Jackson 18, Dorin Nguema 2, Toms Linis 7, Xavier Kirkpatrick 1, Kellon Harris 7, Vikto Lukic-Gavric 24.