GILLETTE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball came one game short of the championship after falling to Casper College 37-24 in the semifinals of the regional tournament Friday evening at Gillette, Wyoming.
The loss ends the team's season at 25-4 and it was the 28th straight year the Cougars have finished the season with 20 or more wins.
Casper College, who shot 29 percent for the game, will advance to the championship game Saturday night to face Gillette College, who downed McCook Community College 97-68 in the other semifinal.
WNCC's offensive game just wasn't there, shooting 15 percent for the game and just 1 of 22 from beyond the arc. On top of that, WNCC was just 7 of 13 from the charity stripe, while Casper was 12 of 16.
The Cougars also set two school records as well for least points scored in a game and combined least points scored. The Cougars' 24 points scored breaks the record set in the 1979-80 season when WNCC scored just 32 points against Casper.
WNCC and Casper's combined 61 points scored on Friday also breaks the record of combined least points scored of 74 points back in the 1978-79 season when WNCC beat Otero 40-34.
WNCC did start the game strong both offensively and defensively. WNCC held an 8-3 lead over Casper after one period. The Cougars then bolted to a 11-5 lead early in the second half before a lid was placed on the Cougar's basket the final three minutes. During that time, Casper scored the next seven points to hold a 12-11 lead at intermission
The Cougars came right out of the locker room and received back-to-back buckets by Kalli Feddersen and Sladjana Rakovic for a 15-12 lead. After that, though, Casper outscored the Cougars 13-4 to hold a 25-18 lead after three periods.
WNCC didn't improve it's shooting in the fourth period, scoring just six points.
WNCC was led in scoring by Ozge Yarga with seven points. Hannah Sparks followed with five points with four points from Rakovic and three points from Myriam Garcia.
Casper out-rebounded the Cougars 45-31. Garcia and Zeynep each had seven boards.
The one area that did stand out for the Cougars was defense where they forced 23 Casper turnovers. WNCC also had 10 steals, led by Rakovic with four.
The Cougars will say goodbye to four sophomores next year in Sparks, Feddersen, Brooke Zimmerman, and Luize Skrastina. WNCC also returns plenty of talent from this past year, including starters Bree Paulson, Canbaz, and Rakovic, who were starters all season.
WNCC (25-4) 8 3 7 5 – 24
Casper 3 9 13 12 – 37
WNCC
Kallie Feddersen 2, Sladjana Rakovic 4, Hannah Sparks 5, Zeynep Canbaz 2, Ozge yarga 7, Mikayla Gonzales 1, Myriam Garcia 3.
CASPER
Ada Yalcin 7, Monika Radowska 3, Josie Sewell 7, Alyssa Big Man 4, Gabby Johnson 10, Gulten Altunbulak 1, Sojia Karahan 2, Marina Ferandez 3.