Defense wins games and championships and the 21st-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team held McCook Community College to just 21 second-half points in securing the 61-56 win Friday night and the right to host next months Region IX Tournament.
                The Cougars moved to 22-5 on the season an 8-0 in the sub-region while McCook drops to 17-11 overall and 6-2 in the sub-region. The Indians are locked in as the No. 2 seed from the South for regionals while WNCC is the No. 1 seed. Both teams will receive a bye in the play-in portion for the first-round of the regional tournament. The Region IX tournament is slated for March 13-15.
                WNCC head coach Ryan Davis said his team’s second half defense was the key in the win, but his team also had some big buckets as well.
                “We said at the beginning of the game that it starts with our defense, If our defense is good, it translates to offense  and we get energy,” Davis said. “I think, obviously, that was the difference in the second half. We started defending, got turnovers. We didn’t convert on a lot of our easy looks when we got turnovers, but we hit some big shots when we needed them and we inched back. I think they got a little tight and that was the difference.”
                WNCC knew how big of a game this was in more ways than one with the goals they had at the beginning of the season and Davis said the team knew at their morning shoot-around that a win would give them the South Sub-region title.
                “We told them at shoot-around today (Friday) that you understand that if we win that we host regionals and they already knew it,” Davis said. “but the message is our goals. We put goals up at the beginning of the year and put them up in the locker room and put them in our notebooks an the number one goal was to win the south so we could host regionals. Obvioiusly, we accomplished that tonight that it is not over that we need to put ourselves in a position to get to the championship and happen to lose that we can get an at-large bid. We just need to put ourselves in that position.”
                Three more wins and the Cougars will notch 25 wins for the season and there is still a change to get 30 wins for the year.
                It was a game where McCook had the defensive energy and hit the big shots in the first half. The first quarter was back and forth with WNCC holding an 18-14 lead on a Helena Kuck 3-pointer to end the quarter.
                The second quarter saw WNCC take a 23-20 lead with six minutes to play. After that, the McCook defense held WNCC scoreless the rest of the quarter as they ran off 15 straight points to lead 35-23 at intermission.
                The five points WNCC scored in the quarter was the fewest points since the November 30 game with Salt Lake Community College when the Cougars scored just four points in the second quarter.
                The second half was a totally different story for the Cougars, outscoring the Indians 17-12 in the third and then 21-9 in the fourth. The third saw McCook hold a 44-27 on a Madara Liepriece 3-pointer with six minutes to play. It was the Indians largest lead of the game.
                After that, WNCC went on an 8-0 run to get the lead back to single digits with just one made bucket when Adelina Urtane got a steal and the lay-up. The other points all came from the free throw line where the Cougars hit 6-of-8 to make it 44-35 McCook. WNCC closed out the quarter as Zozefine Sipolina had an old-fashioned 3-point play and then a nice bucket from the paint to make it a 47-40 deficit at the end of three periods.
                McCook made the first bucket of the fourth and after that WNCC went on a 9-0 run, all points from Sipolina where the freshman hit two field goals, and then her second trey of the game, followed by two free throws to tie the game at 49 with 6:43 to play.
                McCook came back with a free throw to go back in front and then Adelina Urtane buried a triple with 5:05 to play for the Cougars first lead, 52-50, since the second quarter.
                McCook came right back and went up 55-52 with five points. Urtane tied the game once again at 55 with an old-fashioned 3-point play at 55. McCook’s Johanna Gerlach hit one of two free throws to put the Indians back in front at 56-55 with 1:48 to play. That would be the Indians last points of the game as the WNCC defense came up big. WNCC tied the game at 56 on one of two free throws by Urtane and then Kuck hit one of the biggest 3-pointers of the year with a triple with 51.2 seconds to play to give WNCC the 59-56 lead.
                WNCC’s defense stayed strong and got a steal. Kuck hit one of two free throws with 19.7 seconds for the 60-56 lead. McCook missed a 3-pointer but the offensive rebound and missed an easy shot. The Cougars secured the rebound and Urtane was fouled with 6.5 seconds to play and calmly hit a free throw to secure the win.
                WNCC shot 30 percent from the field and were just 7-of-27 from the 3-point arc. McCook shot 52 percent from the field and were just 5-of-16 from the arc. Free throws proved to the difference as WNCC buried 14-of-21 while McCook was 7-of-13.
                WNCC had four in double figures, led by Sipolina with 17 points followed by Urtane with 14, Nataly Dunka with 14 and Kuck with 10.
                WNCC will have one more home game left when they host Lamar Community College next Friday.
                “It is sophomore night. It is the sophomores I didn’t recruit but Shayane was obviously here for them, but it is how much appreciation we have for them on Friday night how much we care,” he said. “It will be an emotionally-charged game. We have a week to rest up.”
               
McCook (17-11)           14 21 12 9 – 56
WNCC (22-5)                 18 5 17 21 – 61
MCCOOK
Madara Lieprience 18, Irene Fernandez Pavesio 3, Johanna Geriach 14, Carolina Garcia Perdomo 2, Miriam Wahlqvist 10, Natalie Harmata 2, Marta Moya Perez 3, Peyton Cox 4.
WNCC
Lidia Hernandez 4, Helena Kuck 10, Laura Montiel 4, Adelina Urtane 14, Zozefine Sipolina 17, Nataly Dunka 12.
 
WNCC men top McCook with rally in final three minutes
 
                The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team stayed alive for a chance to win the sub-region or get a first-round home playoff game with a hard-fought win Friday night over McCook Community College 84-78.
                The Cougars move to 11-15 overall and 6-4 in the South Sub-region, just a game behind Trinidad State College in the loss column. The Cougars have two sub-region games left with Lamar Community College coming to Cougar Palace on Friday, February 28 followed by a road trip to Northeastern Junior College on March 1.
                WNCC coach Roybell Baez said the win was a good win for his team, who hit big shots when they needed while playing tough defense.
                  “This time of the year, like the other night, a win is a win,” Baez said. “The main goal is to get out of here with a win. We did that tonight and it was definitely a rough and tough game. I thought we needed that type of a game. Every other game is finesse and everyone is cool  and I thought tonight it was about who is tougher. I thought our guys were tough. I called them out all night and they responded and as a coach that is all you can ask for.
                “I look at these stats and Kellon Harris has 11 rebounds. He was huge tonight and so was Elijah Hollins. Kellon is playing hard, but I thought he made a tough play after play. Maker didn’t have the best night and we just found a way. With Burney fouling out. There was a point with two minutes left I was saying lets just get out of here alive.”
                While Kellon Harris and Elijah Hollins led the team with 23 points, Harris with a double-double with 11 rebounds as well, Baez said the real unsung hero in the win was Toms Linis, who had just 10 points but kept battling and battling.
                “I will say this the unsung hero tonight to me was Toms Linis,” he said. “He was 2-for-3 from threes, 2-for-2 from the free throw line. He has making so many plays lately and he is all over the floor. He takes charges. He has been guarded. I called him out after the break having to play better defense and he has been our energy guy. Kudos to him and what he does doesn’t show in the stat sheet because that is what everyone looks for and he does things that you don’t see in the stats.”
                The game itself was a battle early on in the first half. WNCC held a 15-13 lead on two Hollins technical foul shots. After that, McCook went on a 12-3 run to lead 25-18. WNCC came right back with a 9-0 run of their own to lead 27-25 on a Linis 3-pointer. After McCook tied the game at 27, Linis his second trey.
                McCook tied it once again with a trey, but Isaiah St. Preux hit s bucket and then Harris had a dunk to put the Cougars up 34-30. McCook responded with a 6-0 run for a 36-34 lead. St. Preux stopped the run with a triple and Mathiang Maker had a dunk for a 39-36 lead. WNCC led at half as Reece Randolph hit a bucket just before the buzzer for the 41-37 lead.
                The second half was just like the first, a string of runs. WNCC had a 6-point lead at 55-49 on two technical shots by Harris. McCook came back with an 8-0 run to lead 57-55 with 12:31 to play. WNCC responded with an 8-0 run to lead 63-57.
                McCook cut the deficit late to 74-73 with 2:27 to play. That was when the Cougar defense really stepped up, holding McCook to without a field goal until with under five seconds to play. WNCC, during that stretch, went on a 9-0 run to lead 83-73 that included 6-for-6 shooting from the charity stripe and a triple by Hollins as they got the win.
                WNCC had four in double figures. After Harris and Hollins with 23 points, Maker tallied 12 points and Linis had 10.
                The key in the game was 3-point shooting and free throws. WNCC buried 11 treys to just two for McCook. At the line, WNCC was 27-of-35 from the line while McCook was 18-of-28.
 
McCook                             37 41 – 78
WNCC                                41 43 – 84
MCCOOK
Nate Coley 16, Madison Peaster 23, Norris Bourne 16, Vladimir Brkovic 15, Meek Ater 5, Dave Olaniyi 2, Jason Robinson 1.
WNCC
Kellon Harris 23, Elijah Hollins 23, Mathiang Maker 12, Elijah Burney 6, Toms Linis 10, Reece Randolph 2, Isaiah St. Preux 7, Dorin Niguema 1.