GILLETTE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College women’s basketball team buried 12 3-pointers on their way to a commanding 91-45 win over Dawson Community College Friday in the second day of the Border War Classic in Gillette, Wyoming. 

                The win was the Cougars’ 8th straight win and pushed the WNCC women to 11-1 on the season. WNCC will wrap up the Border War Classic Saturday when they face Miles Community College. 

                The Cougars buried 11 of their 12 treys in the first half as six different players connected on a 3-pointer, led by Keyla Cervantes with three triples.  

                The Cougars also saw 11 players get in the scoring column as Keyla Cervantes led the way with 18 points followed by Amiyah Donaldson tallied 16 points. Laura Montiel and Mackenzie Joseph each had 12 points in the win. 

                The Cougars once again started the contest slow as Dawson went up 6-3 and led 8-4. After that, though, WNCC finished off the first quarter outscoring Dawson 21-8. WNCC had four of the 12 trays in the first quarter as Gal-La Font opened the game with a 3-pointer and then Donaldson had one and Montiel had two triples as WNCC led 24-14. 

                The Cougars opened the contest as they scored 33 points in the second quarter to lead 57-28 at the break. WNCC had eight 3-pointers in the second 10 minutes as they led 40-18 on three straight 3-pointers, one by Font and two from Cervantes. WNCC continued executing as WNCC led 57-25 on a 3-pointer by Helena Kuck and two from Joseph for the 57-28 lead at intermission. 

                Dawson started the third period outscoring WNCC 7-2, but the Cougars regrouped as they went on a 12-0 run that saw Montiel score six points and Ebere Egbirika get four points for a 72-35 lead. WNCC led after three 75-39.  

                WNCC outscored Dawson 16-6 in the final stanza as Cervantes netted the only 3-ponter in the fourth sandwiched between two Jamie Caron buckets for the win. 

                WNCC shot 49 percent for the game and were 41.4 percent from behind the arc (12-of-29). The Cougars were also 75 percent from the charity stripe (15-of-20).  

                Dawson shot 35 percent from the field and were just 1-of-13 from behind the arc. The Bucs were also 50 percent (8-of-16) from the free throw line.  

                Both teams had 36 rebounds in the contest. WNCC was led by Caron and Faith Walker each with seven boards.  

                WNCC shared the ball with 18 assists and registered 22 steals. Montiel led the way in both categories with five assists and five steals.  

Dawson               14 14 11 6 – 45 

WNCC (11-1)    24 33 18 16 – 91 

DAWSON 

Zoe Skeens 4, McKenzi Peterson 15, Kylee Old Elk 17, Evelyn Old Coyote 9. 

WNCC 

Amiyah Donaldson 16, Ebere Egbirika 7, Helena Kuck 4, Gal-La Font 8, Mackenzie Joseph 12, Keyla Cervantes 18, Laura Montiel 12, Faith Walker 5, Jamie Caron 6, Kiley Smich 1, Trinity Walker 2. 

WNCC men fall to Dawson 76-63 

                GILLETTE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s basketball team allowed one big run to Dawson Community College in both halves as the Bucs earned the 76-63 win Friday in the second day of the Border Wars Classic in Gillette, Wyoming. 

                WNCC drops to 7-7 on the season with the loss as they will wrap up the classic on Saturday as well as the first semester when they face Miles Community College Saturday morning. 

                WNCC played well for most of the contest. The Cougars led just twice in the contest at 2-0 and then 4-3. It was after the second lead, that Dawson opened the contest with a 17-2 run that saw the Bucs run off 11 straight points to lead 20-6.  

                Even with that Dawson lead, WNCC came back as they cut the lead to two points at 27-25 on three points from Travis Easterly, Jr., but Dawson ended up leading 33-26 at the break. 

                The second half saw the Cougars trail 35-32 early on back-to-back buckets by Willie Wilson and later 40-37 on back-to-back buckets by Kayden Nation. Dawson would then go on a 13-2 run to lead 53-39. 

                WNCC came back as they went on a 14-3 run of their own to make it 56-53 with 7:05 to play on a Nazir Griffin bucket. That was when Dawson held WNCC scored for nearly 5 ½ minutes as they led 68-53 before Elijah Burney buried two free throws with 1:46 to play. WNCC never could come back s they fell 76-63. 

                WNCC shot 37 percent from the field and were just 15 percent from behind the arc (4-of-26).   

                WNCC was led in scoring by Maurice Walker with 14 points while Wilson had 11 and Griffin with eight. 

Dawson               33 43 – 76 

WNCC (7-7)       26 37 – 63 

WNCC 

Maurice Walker 14, Anthony Simo 4, Nazir Griffin 8, Willie Wilson 11, Junior Galicia 6, Travis Easterly, Jr. 5, Stephen Ovia 2, Elijah Burney 6, Kayden Nation 7.