SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. -  The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team will get the season started on Halloween and the team couldn’t be happier.
WNCC begins the season when they face Snow College on Halloween with a 3 p.m. contest. The Cougars will then host Dodge City Community College on November 1 at 6 p.m. The other men’s game on Saturday will pit Casper College against Snow College at 4 p.m.
Isaiah St. Preux, one of the eight returners, said this team is ready to start playing.
“For me, I feel like this team is definitely ready to go,” the 6-foot-1 sophomore guard from Miramer, Florida, said. “We put a lot of work in coming into Friday and just seeing that the team that we play against, we match up very well with them and we’re just going to come out and do what we have to do.”
Friday’s opponent, Snow College, comes into Cougar Palace ranked 10th in the NJCAA poll. Saturday’s opponent Dodge City went 15-17 a year ago. The big thing is the time of the game on Friday, which is set for 3 p.m., but that doesn’t bother the team.
“We are ready. We definitely going to practice hard this whole week and just the times that we prepare for it, this is what it’s for.”
After the opening weekend, the schedule doesn’t get any easier as they head to Arkansas City, Kansas to face No. 12 Cowley County Community College and then Butler Community College, who received votes, November 7-8. The Cougars also have a trip to Thatcher, Arizona, November 14-15 to face No. 15 Eastern Arizona College and Cochise College, and then a trip to Cheyenne for games with Salt Lake Community College and No. 17 College of Southern Idaho on November 21-22.
St. Preux said the tough early schedule will get them ready for the conference season.
“We definitely do have a tough early schedule,” he said. “We play a couple top 25 teams, so we’re definitely ready for that.”
After the opening weekend the Cougars won’t be home again until November 24 and 25 when they face Miles Community College and Eastern Wyoming College.
WNCC wrapped up the scrimmage season last weekend at Laramie County Community College and St. Preux said they did alright, but they know what they need to do work on before the season gets underway.
“The scrimmages Saturday went all right. We came out a little soft early, but then towards the end, we started to definitely come out a little harder,” he said. “Our coach stayed on top of us the whole time and he made sure that we kind of just fought through the whole time and not give up. So, having that mindset going into the next game and just fighting off the bat, fighting off the jump, is definitely on our mind. That is the first ting we’re going to do.”
What makes this team something to watch is the talent on the team. Right now, though, there are a few players that are sidelined because of injuries, but St. Preux said there is so much talent but they just have to play some games to put it together.
“The talent is through the roof, skyrocket. This team is very, very talented all-around,” he said. “We are talented in every aspect, too, so we got talent around the boards.”
Besides St. Preux, the other returners from last year included Noah Jones, 6-5 from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Kellon Harris, 6-2 from Scottsbluff; Witold Czerankiewicz, 6-5 from Byton, Poland; Toms Linis, 6-7 from Cesis, Latvia; Kendrick Preston, 6-8 from Miami, Florida; and Dorin Nguema, 6-6 from Tolosa, Spain.
The Cougars also have redshirt freshman Max Orchard, a 6-4 guard from Loma, Colorado, who redshirted a year ago, plus Willie Wilson, who played for the Cougars two years ago on the team. Wilson is a sharp-shooting guard that stands 6-2 from North Minneapolis, Minnesota.
To go with the all the returners, second-year coach Roybell Baez and first-year assistant coach Trey Winkler has some talent with the freshmen to work with. The newcomers include Xavier Kirkpatrick, 6-3 guard from Ocala, Florida; Melchi Egbeyemi, 6-2 guard from London, England; Viktor Lukic-Gavric, 6-3 guard from Sodertalje, Sweden; Amare Jackson, a 6-3 guard from Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Nehemiah Jean Charles, a 6-6 forward from Hollywood, Florida; and Ocean Brobbey, a 6-6 forward from London, England.
St. Preux said there is a big difference between this team and last year’s team that went 14-17 and lost in the semifinals of the Region IX tournament to Gillette College.
“The difference between this team and last year’s team, I feel like last year’s team it was just a lot like we were not gelling together, but this year it’s more weird, like it’s like a brotherhood over here. It’s like family almost,” he said. “So, all of us are just connecting, bonding, and then just translating that to the court is honestly a blessing to play with.”

WNCC women’s basketball team ready to open season on Halloween

Second-year Western Nebraska Community College head coach Ryan Davis is anxious to get the season started Halloween night and so is his Lady Cougar team.
“I think we’re excited to play somebody else for real,” Davis said. “I mean when we play jamboree games, I think they can tell the difference. They step it up every time when we play more of a real game against other people in jamborees, but now it gets real. I’m expecting us to come out with a lot of energy and be ready to go.”
The WNCC women, who finished last season at 25-6 before falling in the semifinals to Western Wyoming Community College, will host the Cougar Classic on Friday and Saturday, October 31 and November 1 with two women’s games each day.
The Cougars open on Halloween night with a 7 p.m. contest against Colorado Northwestern Community College. The first women’s game on Halloween night will pit No. 11 Salt Lake Community College against No. 4 Dodge City Community College at 5 p.m.
Saturday’s action has Dodge City facing Colorado Northwestern at 11 a.m. followed by the Cougars taking on Salt Lake at 1 p.m.
Davis said he doesn’t know a lot about Colorado Northwestern but knows Salt Lake will be a challenge.
“Colorado Northwestern has a lot of different players. They only return like three or four players and he’s got a lot of new kids. They are in a tough region with Salt Lake and North Idaho and Snow and all those teams,” Davis said. “Salt Lake returns quite a few players from last year and quite a few good players. I know they added a Division I transfer at the post so they’re going to be talented. I think if we come out and play hard and play aggressive, I think we’ll be okay.”
The Cougar women will have seven home games in the month of November. After this weekend, the Cougars return to host Casper College on Tuesday. Casper won the Region IX title a year ago.
The Cougars will then host Laramie County Community College on November 9, a Sunday afternoon before hitting the road for a contest at Eastern Wyoming College on November 11.
Davis like the make-up of this year’s team. The Cougar women will be young with just one returning player in 5-foot-8 guard Zozefine Sipolina from Jurmala, Latvia. Sipolina averaged 15.8 points a year ago and made 95 3-pointers while shooting 85.2 percent from the charity stripe.
Davis said it is nice to have someone like her back on the court this season.
“She is somebody that you can kick out shots and make threes, that’s a big weapon,” he said. “I mean shot making in three point making is the biggest weapon that you can have in our game, especially on the women’s side and she does that. So, having her and having her understand of what to do day to day is a big help.”
To compliment Sipolina, Davis has nine freshman that will had plenty of depth to the squad. The freshmen include Dunja Stojanovic, a 5-8 guard from Belgrade, Serbia; Juseana-Rae Delatori, a 5-7 guard from Lahaina, Hawaii; Ruth Lively, a 5-8 guard/forward from Scottsbluff; Aniaya Burton-Hernandez, a 6-0 forward from Harlem, New York; Celina Donyo, a 6-2 post from Sweden; Veralyn Aviles, a 5-7 guard from Brooklyn, New York; Charisma Johnson, a 5-7 guard from Portland, Oregon; Ella Chesta-Carty, a 5-7 guard from Antibes, France; and Brynn Sybrant, a 6-0 forward from Casper, Wyoming.
Davis said this team has plenty of talent to fight for a regional championship but they are also young.
“We’re young but from a talent perspective, we have people that can just go make some shots,” he said. “I think that’s a little bit different from last year’s team and they’re going to have to break off plays at times and just go get a basket instead of running the play all the way through, kind of like what we did last year.”
Davis said he expects this team to be able to score and play defense and it will be a little bit different team from a year ago.
“I think the offense is going to look different. I think there’s going to be times where we’re probably just going to be able to create and make a basket where we had a harder time with that last year,” Davis said. “But I also think from a maturity perspective, we haven’t gotten there yet. We’re very young and last year’s team understood how to control the pace of the game, set hard screens. They knew who to throw the ball to, and right now we’re not there yet. So, we’re going to have to rely on our shot making and play making abilities until we really mature.”