STERLING, Colo. – The 4th-ranked Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team put all 13 players in the scorebook as the Cougar women rolled to an 85-51 win over Northeastern Junior College Tuesday evening in Sterling, Colorado.
The win was the Cougars' 19th straight and moved the Cougars to 24-1 on the season with two regular-season games left.
"The team has definitely been playing through a lot of adversity," WNCC sophomore Ale'Jah Douglas said. "For us, it's not so much about the winning but more so how we win and what our team is working on within to accomplish what we want to entering post-season."
A big reason for the win is the team's depth. All 13 players that played scored led by Douglas with 19 points followed by Martrice Brooks with 14.
"It says a lot for everyone to be able to come into the game and contribute," Douglas said. "The depth of this team is solid in each position with anyone being able to come into the game and do their thing in many different ways. This is what allows us to throw so many different looks at teams to keep them on their feet with not knowing what we're going to do."
A big key for the win was the way the Cougars started. WNCC jumped out to an 18-0 lead led by eight points from Douglas, including a 3-pointer and a trey by Amani Brown.
Douglas said the way the team started was a big reason for the win.
"The team played really good today especially in the first quarter with jumping out on the other team early on both ends of the floor," she said.
NJC finally scored with 4:15 to play but WNCC stayed strong, running to a 28-7 lead after the first quarter.
The second quartersawn NJC score the first three points before WNCC erupted for seven straight as Brooks had five of the seven and Shayane Poirot had the other two. WNCC led 40-15 at halftime.
The third quarter saw the Cougars outscored the Plainswomen 20-12 in the 10-minute third quarter. WNCC led by just 12 points at 47-25 before the Cougars went on a 13-2 run to close out the third. Brown had four points including back-to-back buckets followed by five points from Douglas, including a trey to lead 60-27 after three.
The fourth quarter saw WNCC lead 68-29 behind a bucket by Rashaan Smith. WNCC stayed strong the rest of the game as they ran off back-to-back buckets on three different occasions to double-up the Plainswomen 82-41 and races to the 85-51 win.
WNCC shot 37 percent from the field and buried eight 3-pointers. The Cougars were 11-of-20 from the free-throw line. NJC shot 30 percent from the field and buried seven treys. NJC was just 10-of-22 from the charity stripe.
WNCC won the rebound battle 61-46.
After Douglas and Brooks' double-digit performance, Brown and Shanti Henry each had nine points followed by eight points from Smith.
WNCC, 24-1 on the season and 8-0 in the South Sub-region, will have two regular-season games left. The Cougars will travel to Lamar Community College on Thursday before hosting NJC on Monday in a game that was rescheduled from a postponed game in January. Monday's contest starts at 6 p.m. and it will also be sophomore recognition night.
Douglas said to finish out the regular season with two wins, they need to still work to get better.
"To close out the last two regular-season games with wins, we need to focus going into each game working on what we need to and having discipline on both ends," The Clemson signee said. "It's not so much about neither team but more so how we play with tightening up on things we need to work on as a whole."
WNCC (24-1) 28 12 20 25 – 85
Northeastern Colorado 7 8 12 24 – 51
WNCC
Ale'Jah Douglas 19, Yara Garcia 2, Amani Brown 9, Breanna Fowler 3, Martrice Brooks 14, Shanti Henry 9, Ashley Panem 6, Payton Fields 5, Shayane Poirot 2, Isabelle Cook 2, Genet Mebratu. 1, Mia Jaye Sarodee-Adoo 5, Rashaan Smith 8.