Cougar notes: WNCC women roll to big win over Miles
The 11th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team put four in double figures and all 13 players scored as the Cougar women had no trouble in picking up their 10th win of the season.
By News Channel Nebraska
GILLETTE, Wyo. – The 11th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team put four in double figures and all 13 players scored as the Cougar women had no trouble in picking up their 10th win of the season with an 101-28 win over Miles Community College Sunday night at Gillette, Wyoming, in the final day of the Border Wars Shootout.
The win moves the Cougars to 10-1 on the season with four more games left in the semester before taking the holidays off.
WNCC head coach Chad Gibney said sometimes these games are harder to play than games against ranked teams.
“We talked about that in the pre-game that sometimes these games are harder to play than ones that end up being really close, tough games because it takes just more mental toughness to be able to play every possession knowing they probably can take one or two possessions off and it is not going to dictate the end result,” Gibney said. “We talked about that championship teams have great mental toughness and physical toughness. So, we just went on with that [philosophy] and tried to be play with mental toughness.”
There was little doubt of the outcome in the contest after WNCC opened the contest scoring the first nine points. Miles hit a bucket to make it 9-2, but WNCC went up 16-2 before the Pioneers had a 3-pointer. WNCC then closed out the first quarter on a 12-0 run that was started by a Yara Garcia 3-pointer and a Martrice Brooks old-fashioned 3-point play to lead 28-5 after the first 10 minutes.
The Cougars opened the second quarter on a 12-0 run to lead 40-5 before Miles hit a bucket with about six minutes to play. Rashaan Smith, who led the Cougars in scoring hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to 45-9. WNCC led 52-14 at halftime.
The third quarter saw WNCC outscore the Pioneers 26-8 as the Cougars led 66-15 at one time followed by a 76-22 lead after three.
The fourth quarter saw the Cougars build a 91-22 lead and hit the century mark for the third time this season when Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo hit a bucket with under a minute to play.
WNCC shot 54 percent for the contest from the field and 27 percent from behind the 3-point arc (6-of-22). The Cougars held Miles to just 21 percent shooting and to just .08 shooting from beyond the arc (2-of-26).
Miles did shoot the ball better from the free throw line, making 75 percent of their charity stripes (6-of-8) while WNCC was just 54 percent (13-of-24).
WNCC won the rebound battle 43-25. Aminata Zie led the team with nine boards while Ashley Panem had six rebounds and Payton Fields had five.
The Cougars also had 20 steals in the contest, led by Ale’Jah Douglas had six and Martrice Brooks finished with four.
WNCC was led by Smith with 18 points, the most as a Cougar. Brooks finished with 15 points, while Douglas and Zie each had 10 points.
WNCC will hit the road for three games this weekend in Cheyenne, Wyoming, for the LCCC Classic. WNCC will play Western Wyoming Community College on Thursday at 3 p.m. followed by Laramie County Community College Friday at 7 p.m. before wrapping up the classic on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Central Wyoming College.
WNCC will then wrap up the first semester with a home contest on December 14 when they host LCCC in a men’s and women’s doubleheader with the women’s tip-off set for 6 p.m.
WNCC (10-1) 28 24 26 23 – 101
Miles (2-12) 5 9 6 8 – 28
WNCC
Ale’Jah Douglas 10, Amani Brown 8, Aminata Zie 10, Shanti Henry 5, Payton Fields 6, Yara Garcia 6, Breanna Fowler 3, Martrice Brooks 15, Ashley Panem 6, Shayane Poirot 8, Genet Mebratu 2, Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo 4, Rashaan Smith 18.
MILES
Aylin Ramirez 1, Angelina Dimasi 7, Molly Cockburn 8, Citlalli Gurrola 3, Kelbee Denham 2, Gabby Flute Player 5, Jasmine Grossman 2.
WNCC men capture win over Miles
GILLETTE, Wyo. – Rodney Sawyer and Them Koang combined for 46 points and the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball captured their second straight in rolling to a 91-83 win over Miles Community College in the final day of the Border Wars Shootout at Gillette, Wyoming, Sunday evening.
Sawyer led all scorers with 25 points including two 3-pointers with nine rebounds. Koang finished with 21 points and seven rebounds in the Cougars ninth win of the season.
The first half was back and forth as WNCC jumped out to an 8-3 lead on Carter Brown’s second trey in the contest. Miles came cack to grab a 13-10 lead on a 3-pointer and led 20-15. WNCC ran off 10 straight on a Biko Johnson 3-pointer.
The Cougars kept the lead and pushed it to 30-23 on a Koang bucket. WNCC went up double digits at 36-25 on a Sawyer bucket and 42-31 before Miles scored the final seven points. WNCC led at halftime 42-38.
The second half was another Donnybrook as Miles sliced the lead to 47-44. Carl Thorpe nailed a 3-pointer to pus the lead to 50-44. After a Miles bucket, WNCC went on a 9-0 run that was highlighted by five points from Sawyer and back-to-back buckets by Koang for a 59-46.
The lead didn’t last as things got chippy and Miles and the Pioneers came back for a 67-66 lead. That was the Pioneers only lead of the came as Thorpe answered with a bucket and then Johnson had trey as the Cougars went in front 71-67. The Cougars continued scoring with a 13-0 run that saw Agwa Nywesh hit five points, including a trey for a 79-67 lead.
WNCC expanded the lead to 17, 90-73. Late in the game, Miles sliced the lead to single digits, 90-81, but that was the closest they could come.
WNCC shot 48 percent from the field and were 32 percent from beyond the arc (8-of-25). Sawyer, Brown, and Johnson each had two treys.
WNCC won the rebound battle 42-34. Sawyer had nine followed by Nywesh with eight, Koang with seven, and Thorpe with six.
WNCC had three in double figures. After Sawyer and Koang, Thorpe had 16 points with a trey. Brown finished with nine points along with Nywesh.
WNCC, 9-3, will be back in action on Tuesday, December 14 when they host Laramie County Community College in a doubleheader with the Cougar women. Game times are set for 6 p.m. for the women and 8 p.m. for the men.
WNCC 42 49 – 91
Miles 38 45 – 83
WNCC
Carter Brown 9, Rodney Sawyer 25, Biko Johnson 6, Agwa Nywesh 9, Them Koang 21, Dimitrie Nikolic 3, Carl Thorpe 16, Mamadou Sow 2.
MILES
Eli Habighorst 15, Denzel Kabasele 9, Ray Daniels 20, Blessing Adesipe 10, Paul Gakmar 16, Rylee Watt 1, Kaleb Naylor 12.