Veralyn Aviles scored a season-high 22 points and the Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball had a big first quarter in registering the 82-72 win over Northeastern Junior College Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace.
WNCC, 11-6 over and 1-0 in conference, had to battle against a NJC team that head coach Ryan Davis said is better than their 4-12 record.
Aviles, who connected on 14 free throws on the night, said it was a big win in coming back from the loss to Gillette on Wednesday.
"It's definitely a big win. I mean, it's our first conference game and its our home so it definitely got us a good feeling in starting off with a conference win," the freshman from Brooklyn New York, said.
Aviles said the key to the win was the first quarter start where they scored 27 points and only trailed three times by two or less points. Aviles said they came into the game with the right mindset.
"We prepared really hard the two days before in practice," she said. "We told ourselves, you know, we got to mentally go into this game because we don't have as much players and just be prepared. So, our preparation definitely helped us stay in this game and play hard and stay defined. We all contributed. We all played a good game and we definitely stood together and talked a lot on the court and that definitely helped us take the W."
Another big key in the win was shooting. In the team's loss to Gillette on January 7, the Cougars made just one 3-pointer. Saturday was a different story as the Cougars buried nine 3-pointers and shot 38 percent from the arc. Zozefine Sipolina had two triples, while Aviles, Juseana-Rae Delatori, and Ella Chesta-Carty each had two 3-pointers.
"We were just talking about it after the game ended and we knocked down a lot of threes and our percentage was really high and a big part of that was our defense," Aviles said. "We were able to defend the board and get into transition. Playing good defense definitely had the momentum to make the threes. The other game (Gillette), we didn't play our best defense. They were killing us in transition. So, definitely being able to bounce back from that felt really good."
WNCC did bounce back with a strong shooting effort and playing some tough defense. The key was that first quarter between two teams that matched up equally in talent and it showed. The first quarter three lead changes and two ties with neither team getting more than a five-point lead.
WNCC jumped to a 12-7 lead early only to see NJC come back to grab a 14-12 lead. WNCC responded on a bucket by Charisma Johnson and a triple from Aviles for a 17-14 lead. The Cougar women closed out the first as Aviles hit a 3-pointer as time was about to expire for a 27-19 lead.
The second quarter was back and forth with NJC making it a 32-31 game on a 7-0 run. WNCC responded as Chesta-Carty buried a 3-pointer and Aniaya Burton-Hernandez hit two field goals for a 39-31 lead. WNCC went on to lead 46-38 at halftime.
The second half saw the two teams exchange buckets. The third period had WNCC out-scoring the Plainswomen 19-15 as they held a 12-point lead after the quarter at 65-53.
The fourth quarter saw NJC slice the Cougars' lead to just six points at 73-67. WNCC responded with a strong defensive effort in the final four minutes, holding NJC to just five points while hitting clutch free throws to get the win.
WNCC shot 40 percent from the field and made 23-of-34 free throws. NJC was 43 percent from the field and were just 9-of-15 from the charity stripe.
WNCC had four players in double figures. Aviles led the way with 22 points followed by Chesta-Carty with 17, Sipolina with 13, and Johnson with 10.
NJC had a pair of players with 22 points each in Madison Sepeda and Daniela Garcia-Gasco.
WNCC will have a couple days to rest up and heal after the very physical win over NJC when they host Lamar Community College in another conference game on Wednesday beginning at 5:30 p.m. WNCC will then have a home conference game Saturday afternoon when Southeast Community College comes to Cougar Palace for a 1 p.m. start.
"Just again making sure we prepare like talking a lot during practice and definitely competing a lot in practice because, you know, practices should be harder than games," she said. "So, once you prepare well and you get your body ready for that game, you 're going to be good going into the next one."
NJC (4-12) 19 19 15 19 – 72
WNCC (11-6) 27 19 19 17 – 82
NJC
Madison Sepeda 22, Daniela Garcia Gasco 22, Monique Sena 12, Yaly Ben Hersuh 8, Riley Phelps 7, Jiselle Sales 1.
WNCC
Verlyn Aviles 22, Ella Chesta-Carty 17, Zozefine Sipolina 13, Charisma Johnson 10, Aniaya Burton-Hernandez 8, Juseana-Rae Delatori 8, Celina Donyo 4.