Elijah Burney had the biggest offensive rebound and putback that he will ever remember.
                The Western Nebraska Community College and North Platte Community College men’s basketball teams were knotted at 83 with 20 seconds to play. WNCC worked for the last shot and a 3-pointer was off the back and with 1.5 seconds on the clock, Burney got the rebound and got the shot off with .2 seconds left and watched the ball sail through the nets as he fell to the grand for the buzzer-beater winner 85-83 Wednesday night at Cougar Palace in a key South Sub-region contest.
                When the shot went in, the student section went wild with excitement, but then the students and the players calmed down as the referees went to the video replay to see if the shot was released in time. A couple minutes later, the refs awarded two points and the Cougars got to celebrate once again.
                “This win feels great,” Burney said after the game. “Getting back on the winning column feels great and it gives us more confidence come Friday in our next game.”
                For Burney, who had 15 points on the night, his two points to win it was something he will remember. Burney also led the team with nine rebounds including four on the offensive end. And, that last offensive rebound proved to be the winner.
                “I knew I had to get it off in time because I didn’t know how much time was on the clock,” he said. “A win is a win.”
                The win was huge for the Cougars in the South Sub-region. WNCC moves to 10-15 overall but goes to 5-4 in the sub-region. Four South teams are tied for second with four losses and trail Trinidad State, who is in first at 6-3. WNCC has three regular season games left beginning Friday when they host McCook and then next week when they host Lamar before traveling to Northeastern Junior College.
                North Platte drops to 16-8 overall and they are 4-4 in the sub-region.
                Wednesday’s game was a battle and one that both teams went out to win.
                WNCC started quick leading 11-4 on back-to-back 3-pointers from Burney and Kellon Harris. North Platte came back with an 8-0 run to lead 12-11, tying the game at 11-11 on a Sedrick Nari dunk with 12:07 to play.
                WNCC trailed 14-13 and that was when the Cougars took charge, going on a 16-3 run to lead 29-17 as Elijah Hollins and Isaiah St. Preux each had 3-pointers. North Platte would get to within eight points late, 33-25, and that was when the Cougars went on a 9-0 run to lead by 17 points, their biggest lead of the game, 42-25. WNCC led 44-29 at halftime.
                WNCC went up 48-32 to start the second half and from there, the teams exchanged baskets. WNCC led 69-58 with about nine minutes to play on a Hollins 3-pointer. And led 76-67 after two Maker free throws. That was when North Platte made a run, going on a 10-0 run and taking their first lead of the game since early in the first half at 77-76 in two free throws by Omel Occeus.
                Each team exchanged buckets from there with the Knights going in front 81-80 on a Occeus 3-pointer with two minutes to play. WNCC tied the game at 81 on a free throw by Hollins with 1:54 to play and took an 83-81 lead  with 1:20 to play on two Burney free throws.
                North Platte knotted the game at 83 with 26.9 seconds to play on a Justus Michael bucket. WNCC then set up for the final shot and with about five seconds to play Hollins attempted a shot from the corner that wouldn’t fall. But as the ball came off the rim, Burney was in the right spot, grabbed the ball and got the shot off with .2 seconds on the clock and drained the game winner.
                Both teams shot about the same. WNCC was 48 percent from the field and 38 percent from behind the arc (11-of-29), while North Platte was 46 percent from the field and 30 percent from the 3-point line (8-of-27).
                WNCC put four in double figures, led by Hollins with 19 points followed by Maker with 18, Burney with 15, and Kellon Harris with 14.
 
McCook (11-15)           29 54 – 83
WNCC (10-15)              44 41 – 85
MCCOOK
Trey Summers 13, Sedrick Nari 20, Justus Michael 22, Daniel Nwauzu 7, Alex Harper 13.
WNCC
Kellon Harris 14, Elijah Hols 19, Mathiang Maker 18, Elijah Burney 15, Toms Linis 3, Reece Randolph 9, Isaiah St. Preux 7
 
WNCC’s Sipolina named Region 9 Basketball Player of the Week
 
                Western Nebraska Community College’s Zozefine Sipolina scored 92 points in four games last week in helping the Cougar women to four wins and to a 21-5 record.
                For her efforts, Sipolina was named the Region 9 Division I Player of the Week for the week ending February 16.
                Sipolina, a freshman guard from Latvia, scored 92 points in those four games with 20 3-pointers and going 12-of-15 from the free throw line. She also pulled down 14 rebounds and had six steals.
                Sipolina is averaging 15.6 points a game this season while shooting 38 percent from the 3-point arc and 85.7 percent from the charity stripe. Sipolina has made 406 points this season and buried 82 3-pointers this season.
Sipolina became one of just 30 women’s basketball players to net 400 points in a season on Saturday with her 28 performance against Otero College. Her 82 3-pointers made this season is tied for second in the record book along with Lyndie Puckett’s 82 made back in 2014-15. Merle Wiehl leads with 121 made triples in the 2018-19 season.
Sipolina will lead the 21st-ranked Cougar women in a key sub-region game on Friday, February 21 when McCook Community College comes to Cougar Palace for a women’s and men’s doubleheader beginning at 5:30 p.m.
The contest is important for the Cougars because with a win Friday, the Cougars will win the South Sub-region and host the Region IX tournament March 13-15. McCook comes into the contest winners of their last three with a 17-10 record. On Wednesday, McCook defeated Northeastern Junior College 76-54.
WNCC is 21-5 overall and 7-0 in the South Sub-region while McCook is 6-1 in the conference. WNCC defeated McCook 67-50 back on January 28 at McCook. In that game Sipolina and Adelina Urtane each had 17 points for the Cougars while the team buried 12 3-pointers.
McCook was led by Madara Liepnience with 13 points followed by Peyton Cox with 11. The Indians had just two triples in the contest.
The McCook and WNCC men’s game will be interesting as well Friday night. WNCC is battling to stay in second place in the South Sub-region and are still in a race to win the sub-region crown with a 5-4 conference record. WNCC is 10-15 overall.
The McCook men come to Cougar Palace with a 12-13 record and are 2-5 in the sub-region. The last time out for the two squads was on Wednesday when WNCC defeated North Platte at Cougar Palace 85-83 while McCook hosted Northeastern Junior College and fell to the Plainsmen 76-63.
The game will also be a food drive for the WNCC Cougar Cupboard. Spectators can bring donations for the food drive and receive $1 off admission per can and if they bring five or six cans, they get in free. All donations will be used in the Cougar Cupboard for WNCC students.