SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. -  Ella Chesta-Carty had a double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds as the Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team used a strong second half to down Gillette College Sunday 71-62.
WNCC wraps up the first semester with the win and moves the Cougars to 10-5 on the season. WNCC will next be in action in 2026 when they travel to face Gillette College on January 7 before hosting Northeastern Junior College on January 10 to open South Conference play.
WNCC didn’t lead in the game until with 34 seconds to play in the third period when Chesta-Carty hit a bucket, which was her 13th straight point.
Cougar head coach Ryan Davis said his team did something different in this game and practice this week.
“Yeah, it was our defense and we try to tell them all the time, especially against a zone team, that your defense kind of sparks your offense and they can’t set up the zone up as easily if you get stops and you just run,” Davis said. “We didn’t do any transition work at all, all week, We just worked on their zone and that kind of stuff. So, that half was huge and I think it was really big to just keep us right in the game and then we were able to take off when they couldn’t score and they got frustrated.”
There was only one lead change in the entire game and three ties in a contest that Gillette led the entire time in the first half and nearly all of the third quarter. The only ties in the game came at 4-4, 8-8, and 43-43.
The third quarter was the turning points as the Cougars 41-32 when they went on a 16-2 run to lead after three periods 48-43.
“That third quarter was huge. At one point I think they were stuck on 43 and 47, or something like that, it might have been for five or six minutes and when we didn’t gamble and we were really solid defensively,” Davis said. “But, it was the times where we gave them exactly what they wanted and I think that group that finished the game was the most solid group we had, and we just rode them all the way.”
The first quarter saw that one tie at 4-4 and Gillette had a mini-run of six points to go up 16-9 to lead after one quarter 18-13.
The second quarter saw Gillette’s lead balloon to double digits at 26-15 and later 28-17. WNCC slowly came back as they hit back-to-backs on three different occasions to get to with 32-29 to trail 35-30 at halftime.
Gillette came out in the third period and went up 41-32 early. That was when the WNCC defense settled in and went on that 16-2 run that was fueled by Chesta-Cart scoring 13 of the 16 points. Juseana-Rae Delatori closed out the third with a 3-pointer for the 48-43 lead.
The fourth quarter saw WNCC lead 52-47 when the Cougars went on a 15-7 run to lead by 13, 67-54. That run included back-to-back 3-pointers by Delatori. Gillette tried coming back to get to within 67-60 with under two minutes to play, but WNCC hit clutch free throws down the stretch for the win.
WNCC shot 44 percent in the game and were 5-of-10 from the 3-point line. Gillette shot 39 percent and were just 2-of-19 from beyond the arc. Free throws were the difference as well with Gillette going 6-of-7 while WNCC went 16-of26.
WNCC had three players in double figures, led by Chesta-Carty with her 21 points while Delatori had 18 points with four 3-pointers. Veralyn Aviles chipped in 16 points.
The Cougars are now off until after the new year and Davis said their first game back will not be easy when they travel to Gillette.
“We go to Gillette and it’s going to be really tough. We did that last year and I think we beat them by 17 or something like that on the road right before Christmas and it gave us momentum. We then played them the first game back at Casper last year and they beat us by 11. So, we’re going to have to be ready. But I really believe in this group and they can just make plays and they did that being Ella just made plays all over the place in the second half. It was impressive to see.”

Gillette 18 17 8 19 – 62
WNCC 13 17 18 23 – 71
GILLETTE
Kiyarra Williams 20, Addysyn Bayne 12, Abbie Nickell 8, Danae Asiata 6, Rochelle Afo-Manuma 6, Georgina Sosa Sio 4, Lina Ballin 4, Meghna Vinodhram 2.
WNCC
Ella Chesta-Carty 21, Juseana-Rae Delatori 18, Veralyn Aviles 16, Charisma Johnson 7, Zozefine Sipolina 4, Celina Donyo 3, Brynn Sybrant 2.