The No 24-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team buried 13 3-pointers and remained unbeaten in South Sub-region play with a 76-58 win over Northeastern Junior College at Cougar Palace on Monday.

WNCC moves to 18-5  and 5-0 in the South Sub-region with the win.  It was the Cougars’ fifth straight win. WNCC will continue playing with a game Tuesday at 5 p.m. against the Colorado State Club team at Cougar Palace.

WNCC had three players finish with double figure scoring. Zozefine Sipolina led the way with 20 points including four 3-pointers. Laura Montiel finished with 18 points and three 3-pointers, while Helena Kuck had 15 points with five 3-pointers.

Adelina Urtane was close to double figures with nine points. Urtane led the team with 10 rebounds.

WNCC started slow in the contest trailing 10-3 and later 16-11. That was when the Cougars went on a 8-0 run to grab their first lead of the game at 17-16 with a bucket by Lidia Hernandez. WNCC led 19-18 after the first quarter.

WNCC started the second quarter with back-to-back 3-pointers from Montiel and Kuck for a 25-18 lead. NJC came back to make it 25-23. The Cougars came right back and went up double digits with a 9-0 run that was started with back-to-back triples from Sipolina and Urtane. The Cougars led at halftime 40-30.

The second half was back and forth with WNCC outscoring NJC 15-10. WNCC went up 55-38 on a Montiel 3-pointer and led after three quarters 55-40.

The Cougars pushed the lead to 21 points in the fourth quarter, 63-42, on a Nataly Dunka bucket.  And led 76-50 late on an Asia Mitchell bucket.

WNCC shot 45 percent from the field and 41 percent from beyond the arc (13-of-32). NJC shot 37 percent from the field and were just 18  percent (2-of-11) from the arc.

Both teams shot 50 percent from the free throw line with WNCC connecting on seven charity tosses to six for NJC.

WNCC and NJC each had 41 rebounds. Urtane led the Cougars in rebounding with 10 board followed by Sipoloina with eight and Hernandez with seven.

NJC                       18 12 10 18 – 58
WNCC (18-5) 19 21 15 21 – 76

NJC
Belle Peterson 20, Abby Leahy 7, Daniela Garcia Gasco 13, Anisa Turner 5, Natalie Moore 8, Megan Drews 3, Rebecca Wiersema 2.

WNCC
Lidia Hernandez 4, Helena Kuck 15, Laura Montiel 18, Adelina Urtane 9, Nataly Dunka 7, Asia Mitchell 3, Zozefine Sipolina 20.

Hollins buries 7 treys to lead WNCC men over NJC

Elijah Hollins buried seven 3-pointers as the Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team got back on the win track with an 86-72 South Sub-region win over Northeastern Junior College Monday at Cougar Palace.

Hollins was one of four Cougars in double figures with 25 points including going 7-of-11 from the 3-point arc. Kellon Harris added 16 points while Elijah Burney and Isaiah St. Preux each had 10 points.

The win moves the Cougars to 9-13 on the season but more importantly pushed the Cougars to 4-2 in sub-region play and trails Lamar Community College for the top spot in the sub-region by percentage points. Lamar is 5-2 in the sub-region. NJC falls to 3-4 in the sub-region.

Monday’s game was a battle as WNCC started slow, trailing 12-9 to the Plainsmen. That was the last time NJC led the rest of the game as the Cougars went on a 13-0 ru that saw Hollins hit two 3-pointers for a 22-12 lead.

WNCC pushed the lead to 12 points at 27-15 on five straight points from Reece Randolph. NJC battled back to cut the Cougar lead down to three at 32-29. WNCC answered on a Randolph bucket and a Harris 3-pointer for a 37-29 lead. The Cougars then wet on a late 9-0 run to lead 46-33 before settling for a 46-35 lead at intermission

WNCC came out in the second half and went to work, going on a 14-5 run to lead 60-40 behind two triples from Hollins. NJC scored six straight to make it a 14-point game, but the Cougars went on a 7-0 run to lead 67-46 on a bucket by Elijah Burney, a triple from Hollins, and a bucket by Withold Czerenkiewicz.

NJC got the Cougar lead to single digits at 69-60, but WNCC immediately pushed it back to double digits as Mathiang Maker got an offensive rebound and dunked the ball home. WNCC led 71-60 and never surrounded the lead back to single digits the rest of the way.

The game was won from the 3-point arc. WNCC shot 43 percent from behind the arc with 12 triples while NJC was just 33 percent making 4-of-12. The Cougars shot 48 percent from the field while NJC was 44 percent.

The Plainsmen out-rebounded the Cougars 44-34. Harris and Maker each had five rebounds for WNCC.

WNCC will return to action this weekend when they hit the road for back-to-back games at Otero and Trinidad State on Friday and Saturday.

NJC                       35 37 – 72
WNCC (9-13) 46 40 – 86

NJC
Quis Davis 13, Ryder McConnell 9, Uwami Chongo 18, Kaamil Domingo 8, Noah Adamczyk 9, Keziah Williams 4, Justin Sapoi 3, Owen Wright 2, Brady Greene 6.

WNCC
Kellon Harris 16, Elijah Hollins 25, Mathiang Maker 7, Elijah Burney 10, Toms Linis 4, Noah Jones 3, Reece Randolph 7, Isaiah St. Preux 10, Dorin Nguema 2, Witold Czerenkiewicz 2.