LA JUNTA, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team fought hard, but the No. 3 ranked Casper College women’s basketball outscored the Cougars 35-23 in the fourth quarter to come back to defeat the Cougars 94-87 in semi-final action in the Region IX tournament at La Junta, Colorado, Friday.

WNCC ends the regular season at 15-5 with their only hope of gaining a national tournament bid falling with the at-large committee.

Casper advances to the Region IX championship game where they will face Otero Junior College Saturday at 4 p.m. The Rattlers defeated McCook Community College 66-53 in the other semi-final game.

WNCC played tough in the contest from start to finish. The Cougars led 4-2 before Casper came back to lead 10-4. The Cougars took the lead at 14-12 before watching the T-Birds score six straight for an 18-14 lead. Casper led after the first quarter 23-20.

The second quarter saw WNCC retake the lead 24-23 on a Lidsey Mahoukou bucket. Casper responded with back-to-back 3-pointers for a 31-30 lead only to watch WNCC go on an 8-0 run that was highlighted by an Alejah Douglas 3-pointer. WNCC led 43-36 at halftime.

The third quarter saw WNCC stay on top of Casper. WNCC led by 11 points, 54-43, on a Ashley Panem 3-pointer. Casper came back to cut the deficit to two, 56-54, before the Cougars went up 59-54 and led 64-59 has Ky Buell nailed an off-balanced 3-pointer that banked in as time expired.

The Cougars carried that momentum into the fourth quarter where they led 70-66 before Casper went on a 12-0 run that included three 3-pointers for a 78-70 lead.

WNCC kept fighting as the two squads traded basketball like two prize fighters. WNCC cut the lead to five points, 89-84 on a Buell trey and then sliced the lead to four, 91-87 on a Douglas 3-pointer. But, late free throws was the difference as Casper went on to get the win.

Both squads combined for 21 3-pointers. Casper had 11 while WNCC had 10, nine of which came in the second half. Douglas buried four treys while Buell had three. WNCC’s other treys came from Panem, Shanti Henry, and Martrice Brooks.

Free throw shooting was the difference as the Cougars were just a little over 58 percent from the charity stripe at 15 of 26 while Casper made 12 more free throws than the Cougars at 27 of 33 for 82 percent.

WNCC had three players in double figures. Douglas led the way with 35 points. The freshman point guard had 18 in the first half and 17 in the second half. Douglas scored 15 of those 17 in the fourth quarter. Douglas also had four treys and was 9 of 10 from the free throw line.

Mahoukou and Buell each had 12 points while Brooks and Panem were next in line with nine points.

WNCC 20 23 21 23 – 87

Casper 23 13 23 35 – 94

WNCC

Alejah Douglas 35, LIdsey Mahoukou 12, Ky Buell 12, Martrice Brooks 9, Ashley Panem 9, Isabelle Cook 4, Shanti Henry 3, Payton Fields 2, Bella Sparaco 1.

Modesto’s overtime goal lifts WNCC women over Otero

Leticia Modesto scored in the second overtime to help the Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team to a 2-1 double overtime win over Otero Junior College Friday afternoon at Lander Soccer Complex.

It was the home opener for the WNCC soccer teams and Friday’s weather wasn’t the best as the team’s battled brisk winds that hampered play.

In the end, the Cougar women moved to 2-0-1 with the Region IX conference win.

Modesto, a freshman from Brazil, said the team played well especially the defense in a very competitive contest.

“We played really well defensively,” Modesto said. “We fought for every ball. Thanks to God, we were able to work and have good control of the ball. And, thanks to God, we came away with the win. It was really a tough game. The other girls were really strong, too. They were running a lot so thanks to God our defense did a really good job in this game.

The offense scored twice in the match, but it was the defense that played lights out. The Cougars allowed just one goal in the match and that was a second half penalty kick halfway through the second half.

Modesto said their defense is strong.

“They [the defense] played really well,” she said. “They got every ball. Defensively we are really strong. That is one of our strong areas and thanks to the girls on defense, we were able to hold on to the game and finish with a goal.”

With the gusty winds that blew out of the west, it made play pretty hectic. WNCC started the match by going with the win kicking into the South goal and WNCC peppered the net with 11 shots in the first half. With the wind, WNCC almost nailed a shot as a corner kick just about curved into the net before the Otero goalkeeper saved the ball.

WNCC finally broke the scoreless deadlock as Destiny Mueller fed Kianna Thompson with a perfect pass and the freshman from Denver planted it into the back of the net for the 1-0 lead. That is the way it stayed going into halftime.

The second half saw both teams kept battling. Otero finally got on the scoreboard as Adriana Caballero scored off a penalty kick with 23:02 left in the match.

Both teams had shots to take the lead in regulation, but neither could get a shot in net.

The first overtime saw Otero have two great chances for a goal, but misfired high and wide. Modesto also had a prime shot late in the first overtime but the Otero goalkeeper came up with a big save.

The second overtime saw WNCC going against the win and they dominated the short second overtime. The Cougars missed on one shot, but then with 7:31 left in the game, Andrea Jimenez off a corner kick, crossed the ball to Modesto who knew what to do and her shot went into the net for the game-winner.

“The wind was really strong and every time we kicked the ball it took it away,” Modesto said. “But, thanks to Andrea, she took a corner kick and she gave the ball to me. I remember the girls saying go to the second post and that was going through my mind. So, I was wondering if the ball was going to pass the defender and it passed and I was able to score the goal.”

WNCC had 18 shots in the game while Otero managed about 11 shots.

WNCC goalkeeper Ana Von Ruden had a huge game in net. The sophomore from Oregon finished with 10 saves including many clutch saves in critical times.

WNCC was scheduled to host Trinidad State Junior College on Saturday, but Trinidad had to postpone that game because of COVID concerns. WNCC will be back in action next week when they hit the road twice to face Laramie County Community College on Wednesday and then Northeastern Junior College on Saturday. WNCC will return home April 23 and 24 for home games, facing Central Wyoming on Friday and Western Wyoming on Saturday.

WNCC men’s soccer falls to Otero

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team didn’t get too many shots at net and Otero Junior College scored two first-half goals and captured the Region IX conference contest 2-0 at Lander Soccer Complex on Friday.

The score was nothing as tight as the game was. The Cougars moved the ball but so did Otero.

The Rattlers scored first with 31:27 left in the first half when Quesseynou Cisse scored off a penalty kick that WNCC goal keeper Imanal Munoz was set up to save, but the ball sailed to the west and just out of the hands of Munoz.

It stayed 1-0 for the next 20-plus minutes. Then, with Otero going into the win, scored again off a corner kick. With 7:02 to play, Diogo Santos set up for a cornerkick and with the win in his favor, he kicked the ball and the ball curved into the net for a goal and the 2-0 Rattler lead.

WNCC couldn’t score the rest of the half and settled for the 2-0 halftime lead.

The second half saw both teams battling strong and both defenses stepped up in holding the offenses from netting a goal. WNCC only managed three shots on goal while Otero had 13 shots in the contest.

Munoz recorded two saves in net for the Cougars.

The big advantage in the contest was cornerkicks for the Rattlers. Otero had 10 corner kicks in the match compared to just three for the Cougars.

WNCC will be back in action next week when they hit the road for a pair of conference games. WNCC will travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to face Laramie County Community College on Wednesday and then travel to Sterling, Colorado, to face Northeastern Junior College on Saturday.