The Casper College women’s basketball team captured their fourth straight Region IX title after defeating Western Wyoming Community College 67-55 in the championship game Saturday evening at Cougar Palace.
                Casper becomes the second team in Region IX to win four straight. The last time it happened was from 2003-2006 when WNCC won four straight titles.
                Casper will now compete in the NJCAA national tournament March 25-April 1 at the Wyoming Ford Center in Casper, Wyoming.
                Defense was the key in the contest as Western Wyoming jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the first three minutes of the game. After that, Casper went on a 13-0 run to hold the Mustangs to zero points the rest of the third and almost the first three minutes of the second quarter. Casper led 13-4 after one quarter.
                The second quarter saw Casper run to a 23-8 lead and led by 10 at halftime 25-15.
                The second half was back and forth with both teams trading baskets. Western Wyoming got the deficit cut to single digits at 32-23, but Casper would quickly get it back to double digits as they led 47-32 after three and Western never could get it back to under a double-digit lead.
                Casper’s Andi Schissler led all scorers with 26 points along with 11 rebounds. She buried four 3-pointers in the game. Western Wyoming was led by Zipaya Somsen with 14 points.
                After the contest, the award ceremony saw several players make the All-Tournament team with four players from Western Wyoming, Casper, and Western Nebraska making the all-tournament team.
                Cougars that were placed on the all-tournament included Helena Kuck, Nataly Dunka, Zozefine Sipolina, and Laura Montiel.
                Casper members of the team included Andi Schissler, Adama Badjie-Coly, Luna Ueda, and Hassana Arnadu; while Western Wyoming representatives included Kayla Thornton, Kaylee Hess, Austyn Feller, and Sierra Eddie.
                Other members of the All-tournament team included Northeaster Junior College’s Bella Peterson, McCook’s Madara Liepniece, Trinidad’s Lani Albert Neha, Eastern Wyoming’s Leamsi Acuna, and Gillette College’s Arna Bright and Marija Marinkovic.
                Other honors announced were the South and North All-region Teams and All-Defensive Teams.
                WNCC was well-represented on the South with four players making All-Region in Kuck, Dunka, Sipolina, and Adelina Urtane. Urtane was the top vote-getter in the South. Other members of the all-region team included McCook’s Madara Liepniece, Trinidad’s Lani Albert Neha and Violete Rojas, Lamar’s Amaya Wiliams and Ana Zesti, and NJC’s Daniela Garcia Gasco.
                The South All-Defensive team included WNCC’s Montiel along with McCook’s Carolina Garcia-Perdomo, Lamar’s Williams, NJC’s Peterson, and Trinidad’s Candela Roy.
                The North All-Region selections included Gillette’s Dasani Nesbit and Rochelle Afo-Manuma; Casper Ueda, Badjie-Coy, and Schissler, Laramie County’s Marcela Pinedo-Saavedra, Eastern Wyoming’s Nikolina Vukcevic; Northwest’s Bianca Silva, and Western Wyoming’s Eddie, Feller, and Thornton.
                The North All-Defensive Team included Casper’s Badjie-Coly, Gillette’s Kenlee Engelhardt, Western Wyoming’s Thornton, and Northwest’s Tayva Phillips.
                The Coach of the Year’s from each sub-region saw Casper’s Dwight Gunnare earn the North honor in his final year of coaching after he announced his retirement last month. The South coach of the year went to WNCC’s Ryan Davis, who in his first year as the head man for the Cougars guided the team to a 25-6 record.