The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team receive 19 points from Laura Montiel and the Cougar women never trailed in the second half in posting a 65-53 win over Otero College to open Region IX South Conference play.
                WNCC will continue conference action with a game on Saturday at 1 p.m. against Trinidad State College.
                Friday’s game was the first time the Cougars were back at Cougar Palace playing in two months and the Cougars had a rough first half. Otero came out hot and led 8-3 and later 17-9 on an Itxasne Fernandez triple. WNCC closed out the first quarter with a 3-pointer by Zozefina Sipolina and an old-fashioned 3-point play by Montiel to trail 17-15 after one.
                The second quarter saw Otero jump to a 30-21 lead on back-to-back 3-pointers by Ariadna Paster and Alyssa Trujillo. WNCC woke up in the final two minutes of the half as they went on an 8-0 run that included a 3-pointer by Lidia Hernandez to slice the deficit to on=e, 30-29. After a bucket by Otero, WNCC tied the contest at halftime at 32-32 as Helena Kuck nailed a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
                The third quarter saw WNCC score the first seven points to lead 39-32. Otero cut the deficit to one points a couple times, the last time at 44-43. WNCC closed out the third on back-to-back 3-pointers from Kuck and Montiel to lead 50-43.
                The final quarter saw Otero score the first five points to come within two, 50-48. The Cougars responded with seven straight to lead 57-48 after a triple by Adelina Urtane. WNCC closed out the came on an 8-3 run to get the win.
                WNCC shot 43 percent from the field in the contest and were 31 percent from behind the arc. The Cougars were also 7-of-11 from the charity stripe.
                Otero shot 39 percent for the game and were 10-of-24 from the 3-point line, while connecting on just 3-of-3 free throws.
                Montiel led the Cougars with 19 points followed by Urtane with 14. All of Urtane’s points came in the second half.          
 
Otero                   17  15 11 10 – 53
WNCC                14 18 18 15 – 65
WNCC
Lidia Hernandez 7, Helena Kuck 9, Asia Mitchell 4, Laura Montiel 19, Adelina Urtane 14, Zozefina Sipolina 7, Nataly Dunka 5.
 
WNCC men fall to Otero in a high-scoring contest 112-105
 
                Free shooting proved to be the difference as the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team dropped the conference opener to Otero College 112-105 Friday night at Cougar Palace.
                WNCC will look to get back on the winning track when they host Trinidad State on Saturday at 3 p.m.
                Friday’s contest saw three Cougars score 20-plus points. Mathiang Maker tallied 28 points  while Elijah Hollins had 24 points with five 3-pointers, and Elijah Burney had 21 points.
                The difference in the contest came down to free throw shooting, especially in the second half. Otero went 22-of-24 from the charity stripe while WNCC was just 20-of-31.
                The first half was a back-and-forth contest with neither team getting more than a 2-point lead until with under 10 minutes to play when the Cougars trailed 23-18 and then wen ton a 10-0 run to lead 28-23. The lead didn’t last long as Otero came back to take a 39-32 lead and led 45-40. WNCC would get a late bucket my Hollins to trail 47-45 at halftime.
                The second half saw the Cougars start the half with a 10-4 run and lead 55-51. WNCC led 61-58 and that would be the last time they led as Otero took a 64-61 lead. The Cougars did have the game tied at 70-70 on a Burney bucket with 11:44 to play.
                The Cougars kept battling but Otero led 78-72 and then led 97-88 with 4:01 to play. WNCC kept battling as they trailed by six on several occasions. The Cougars trailed 103-97 on a Reece Randolph 3-pointer with 47.9 seconds to play. The Rattlers would then hist clutch free throws down the stretch to get the win.
 
Otero                   47 65 – 112
WNCC                45 60 – 105
WNCC
Reece Randolph 15, Kellon Harris 7, Isaiah St. Preux 5, Elijah Hollins 24, Mathiang Maker 29, Elijah Burney 21, Witold Czerenkiewicz 5.