The Western Nebraska Community College women's and men's basketball teams split with Otero Junior College in South Sub-region conference play Friday at Cougar Palace on a night when WNCC inducted two into the WNCC Athletic Hall of Fame.
The 6th-ranked WNCC Cougar women put three in double figures and put together a strong second half in notching their 19th win of the season with an 81-46 win over the Rattlers.
The Cougar men had a strong start and then Otero got hot, outscoring the Cougars 45-26 in the second half to earn the 86-72 win for the Rattlers.
Both Cougar teams will be back in action Saturday when they host Trinidad State Junior College in afternoon contests beginning at 2 p.m. with the women's contest.
The Cougar women had a slow start as Otero jumped to a 5-0 lead. WNCC finished off the first quarter outscoring the Rattlers 16-2 to take a 16-7 lead.
The second quarter saw Otero cut the lead to seven at 18-11 before the Cougars went on a 11-0 run to lead 29-11 including a 3-pointer by Shanti Henry. WNCC led 34-18 at halftime.
The third quarter saw the Cougars outscore Otero 24-14 as Henry and Amani Brown each had treys. The Cougars led 58-32.
The fourth quarter was all WNCC as they started the quarter on a 7-0 run to lead 65-32. Later WNCC led 71-38 after Ale'Jah Douglas stole the ball and made a driving, under-and-circling layup.
WNCC was led by Douglas with 20 points followed by Brown and Aminata Zie each with 11 points. Ashley Panem pulled down 12 rebounds for the Cougars while Zie had nine.
The Cougar men started strong in the contest as they went up 15-7 after five points from Agwa Nywesh and led 23-11 after a Biko Johnson 3-pointer.
That was when Otero heated up and tied the game at 33-33 with 3:53 to play in the half. The Rattlers took their first lead at 37-25 on a dunk by Rodney Mason and led 41-36 at halftime.
The second half was tight for a good portion of the 20 minutes. WNCC cut the Otero lead to two points at 50-48 on a Nywesh dunk. Otero came back to grab a 61-50 lead on a 3-pointer and never relinquished the 9-point lead the rest of the way.
WNCC had five in double figures led by Johnson with 19 points and eight rebounds. Them Koang had 16 points, including going 10-of-14 from the charity stripe. Nywesh had a double-double with 11 points and 10 boars, while Carter Brown had 11 points. Rodney Sawyer finished with 10 points.
Women's Game
Otero 7 11 14 14 -- 46
WNCC 16 18 24 23 -- 81
OTERO
Janience Dawson 15, Savannah Lang 7, Julia Stenberg 8, Shanah Estangel 4, Fatou Bagate 7, Mirelle Lopez 2,Nyabuath Tuom 3.
WNCC
Ale'Jah Douglas 20, Yara Garcia 2, Amani Brown 11, Aminata Zie 11, Martrice Brooks 4, Shanti Henry 8, Ashley Panem 8, Shayane Poirot 6, Genet Mebratu 3, Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo 8.
Men's Game
Otero 41 45 -- 86
WNCC 36 36 -- 72
OTERO
Ezra Burnett 5, Kyrie Thomas 15, Ikechi Chantilou 2, Dwayne Chester 4, Kenard Richardson 13, Hunter Jack Madden 3, Rodney Mason 10, Aman Measho 4, Luis Miera 2, Tommy Kamarad 10, Ty Diggins 2, AC Curry 16.
WNCC
Carter Brown 11, Rodney Sawyer 10, Biko Johnson 18, Agwa Nywesh 11, Turumbil Zaki 3, Them Koang 16, Say Owolabi 3.