It was the home opener for the Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team and Mackenzie Joseph had a double-double of 23 points and 13 rebounds as the Cougars got three late free throws from Shiho Isono to capture a 71-68 win over Western Wyoming Community College Friday evening.
Joseph, a freshman from Vinton, Louisiana, said the team started rough but put it together in the second half to get the win.
"I think we were slow at the start but towards the second half, we got things together," Joseph said. "Defensively we just need to get better. This is just the first few games playing together and we need to get our chemistry together."
WNCC interim head coach Isaac Lu said they did not have the best first half.
"I thought we were really slow to get going at the beginning of the game and it took us way longer than what we wanted for us to start playing hard and do everything we needed to do to play good basketball," Lu said. "We finally got it going there in the fourth. We came out with a sense of urgency there and I am just happy that we pulled out this win. We will learn a lot from it. We definitely need to come out with more of a sense of urgency at the beginning of the games moving forward."
WNCC got out to a quick 5-0 lead as Joseph hit a 3-pointer and then a bucket but they also didn't score the first points until two minutes were gone in the first quarter. Western Wyoming came back to tie the game at 5-5. WNCC didn't score again until with 3:17 to play as Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo hit two free throws followed by buckets by Faith Walker and Jayla Owen for an 11-5 lead. Western Wyoming scored the final points of the quarter as the two squads were knotted at 11-11.
The second quarter saw WNCC take a 16-13 lead on an Owen trey. The Mustangs came riding back going on an 8-0 run to take a 21-13 lead with just three minutes gone in the quarter.
WNCC tied the game at 23-23 on a Joseph trey, but Western Wyoming went back in front at 28-23 on a Ashelyn Birch trey. WNCC cut the Mustangs lead to 31-30 after an Owen bucket and an Isono bucket. Western Wyoming led at halftime 34-31.
WNCC came out of the locker room and scored five quick points on a Joseph trey and a Ola Duda bucket for a 35-34 lead. It was short-lived as Western Wyoming went up 45-41 on a Kayde Strauss 3-pointer. WNCC retook the lead at 47-45 on back-to-back treys from Bre Fowler for a 47-45 lead.
Western Wyoming regrouped as Birch hit two buckets for a 52-49 lead. Sarkodee-Adoo hit two free throws in the final seconds as Western Wyoming led 52-51 after three quarters.
The fourth quarter saw the Mustangs jump to a 54-51 lead. That would be the last time Western Wyoming would lead as Duda nailed a 3-pointer followed by a bucket by Joseph and two free throws from Duda for a 58-54 lead.
Western Wyoming did tie the game at 59, but Joseph and Fowler nailed back-to-back treys for the 65-59 lead. The Mustangs fought back and tied the contest at 65 in the final two minutes. Fowler would hit a bucket with 42.3 seconds to play for the 67-65 lead and then Isono nailed one of two free throws with 27.9 seconds left.
Western Wyoming hit a tying trey with 15 seconds to play. The Mustangs then fouled Isono with 12.8 seconds and the sophomore from Japan nailed one of two free throws for a 69-68 lead.
WNCC would play strong defense as the Mustangs shot would fall and Joseph grabbed the rebound and WNCC started to bring the ball up the court when Isono was fouled. Isono nailed two charity tosses with 5.9 seconds and the Cougar defense thwarted a last-second tying 3-pointer to get the win.
The defensive intensity, especially in the second half, was definitely a big factor in the team's win. One big key defensive play happened in the third quarter when the Cougars played in-your-face defense in stopping the Mustangs getting the ball past the top of the key. WIthin seconds before being whistled for a 10-second call, the Mustangs called timeout.
Lu said this team has plenty of good defensive players.
"We have a lot of good defenders on this team with players that can guard the ball really really well," he said. "We were sitting back way too much and we have to get up and pressure these teams in the full court because our team is really capable of getting turnovers. Once we kind of got it going there, I thought that was when we started to be more aggressive and play with a lot more confidence."
WNCC's defensive tenacity forced 18 turnovers and had seven blocked shots. Duda had three blocks while Rashaan Smith had two.
The Cougars lost the battle in the paint as Western Wyoming scored 34 points to the Cougars 28. WNCC did, however, show their depth, winning the points off the bench battle 34-4 and most of that was from Joseph who had 23 points while nailing four 3-pointers.
WNCC finished the game with 10 3-pointers made. Fowler led the way with four followed by Joseph and then Owen had two.
WNCC lost the rebound battle 44-43. Joseph led with 13 while Sarkodee-Adoo had eight and Smith had six.
After Joseph's 23 points, Fowler had 11 while Isono had 10. Owen tallied eight with two treys.
WNCC, 2-1, will be back in action at home on Tuesday night when they host Laramie County Community College.
Lu said his team has to come ready to play come Tuesday.
"Laramie County is a really good team. We have to show up ready to play to beat a team like Laramie County," he said. "So, we are going to take care of business here and make sure we have a great two days of practice and get after it on Tuesday."
W. Wyo. 11 23 18 16 – 68
WNCC 11 19 21 20 – 71
WESTERN WYOMING
Kayde Strauss 23, Ashelynn Birch 13, Kayla Thornton 13, Tamryn Blom 11, Emma Patik 4, Hannah Harris 2, Leiana Thornton 2.
WNCC
Mackenzie Joseph 23, Bre Fowler 11, Shiho Isono 10, Jayla Owen 8, Ola Duda 7, Mia Jaye Sarkodee-Adoo 4, Faith Walker 4, Rashaan Smith 4.