The 14th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball wrapped up the pre-season with a scrimmage at Black Hills State on Wednesday and now the team will be begin the regular season when they host Northwest College on Monday.

                WNCC, who went 2-1 at the national tournament in April, enters the season ranked 14th in the pre-season poll and they have a lot of talent on the squad this season.

                WNCC head coach Chad Gibney said he has been impressed of how much his squad has grown through the four scrimmages they have had.

                “The scrimmages have been great,” Gibney said. “It has been a great learning experience for our team. We continued to make strides to get better throughout the process. We are looking forward for the beginning of the regular season.”

                The players are excited to begin the season on Monday. Gibney said they are looking forward to opening the season at Cougar Palace in front of the home fans.

                “Everyone is really excited to play at Cougar Palace and kick off the year,” Gibney said. “We are excited about the upcoming year. We feel like we have a team that is individually talented and now we are making sure we find ways to put them in a position to work as a team and be the best unit that we can be.”

                The Cougars have a lot of talent on this year’s team with seven players back from last year. Besides Douglas, who led the team in scoring a year ago, the Cougars also have another transfer all-American in Amani Brown, a 5-foot-7 point guard from Terre Haute, Indiana. Brown played last year at Vincinnes University a year ago where she earned NJCAA honorable mention all-American honors.

                With Douglas and Brown among the NJCAA elite, the Cougars also have plenty of other talent returning from last year where the Cougars lost in the semifinals of the regional tournament but received an at-large bid to the national tournament and captured two big wins over Iowa Western Community College and then No. 1 Jones College.

                Other players returning from last year’s Cougar team besides Douglas Yara Garcia of Scottsbluff; Martrice Brooks of Springfield, Illinois; Shanti Henry of Wichita, Kansas; Ashley Panem of Broomfield, Colorado; Isabelle Cook of New Plymouth, New Zealand; and Payton Fields of El Paso, Texas.

                On top of that, the Cougars also have a talented newcomer list with some height and scoring ability.

                The newcomers on the team include 6-2 Aminata Zie of Paris; 5-8 Breanna Fowler of Berthoud, Colorado; 5-8 Shayane Poirot of Cavalaire-sur-Mer, France; 5-6 Genet Mebratu of Toronto, Canada; 6-2 Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo of London, England; and 6-4 Rashaan Smith of Auckland, New Zealand.

                “We are very experienced,” Gibney said. “We have a lot of people that played and produced at the college level, so it is exciting. It is now important for us to mesh and come together and form the best team that we can be.”

                The question is putting all the pieces together to maximize the talent. Gibney said that is hardest part right now.

                “We have had people that have produced so now we have to find ways that we can maximize it as a group,” he said. “We have a wide variety of people standing out.”

                WNCC’s schedule is a little different as well. WNCC will have three home games in November. After Monday’s season-opener against Northwest, WNCC will host Eastern Wyoming College on November 16 and then North Platte Community College on November 24.

                The Cougars will wrap up the first semester with a home contest on December 14 against Laramie County Community College.

                The schedule really gets different second semester as WNCC will play seven of eight games at home during January. The Cougars final home game is slated for Saturday, January 29 when they host Trinidad State College. WNCC is on the road during February with five games.