The second day of the Region IX Women’s Tournament is complete and four more teams advanced into Tuesday’s quarterfinals.
Monday’s winners included McCook Community College over Central Wyoming College 80-74, Gillette College over Northeastern Junior College 66-60, Northwest College over Otero Junior College 65-56, Casper College over Lamar Community College 46-37 at Western Nebraska Community College’s Cougar Palace.
Tuesday’s quarterfinal contests pit Sheridan against Northwest at 1 p.m., Miles Community College against Gillette at 3 p.m., Western Wyoming Community College against McCook at 5 p.m., and Casper taking on Western Nebraska Community College at 7 p.m. The winners advance to Wednesday’s semifinals.
Casper 46, Lamar 37
Monday’s final contest between Casper and Lamar was a contest of neither team hitting shots in the first half, Both teams settled for a 20-20 halftime score. In fact, Casper shot just 20 percent from the field in the second half, while Lamar shot 22 percent. Neither team was connecting from beyond the arc as Casper made just 3 of 18 shots and Lamar 1 of 15.
The second half was a different story for the Thunderbirds as they shot 37 percent to finish at 27 percent for the game. Lamar had trouble buying a bucket all night. In the second half, they shot 23 percent and connected on just 2 of 11 3-pointers.
Casper didn’t start to pull away until almost eight minutes gone in the second half. Both teams were knotted at 24-24 when Casper started to catch fire shooting as Casper went on a 13-2 run to open up an 11-point lead at 37-26.
Casper pushed the lead to 42029 with 3:40 to play as Shelby Stewart connected on a 3-pointer. The Thunderbirds led by as much as 13 points with a minute to play after two free throws by Stewart.
The Thunderbirds put two players in double figures. Cheyanne Balster finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds. Steward pitched in 14 points.
Shelby Garska and Agata Dobrowolska each had double-digit rebounding. Garska pulled down 12 boards, while Dobrowolska had 10 boards. Casper out-rebounded Lamar 59-52.
Lamar was led in scoring by Cydnee Ceballos with 10 points and nine rebounds.
Casper 20 26 – 46
Lamar 20 17 – 37
CASPER COLLEGE
Kaylee Swope 2, Ashley Jones 3, Shelby Stewart 14, Cheyanne Balster 13, Shelby Garska 5, Ragen Wilson 2, Agata Dobrowolska 4, Taylor Kofoed 3.
LAMAR
Nia Simms 3, Tanner Campbell 5, Janey Truiett 6, Jaden Noe 1, Shea Maqrbaugh 8, Cydnee Ceballos 10, Wllie Stevens 4.
McCook 80, Central Wyoming 74
The contest featured 54 fouls and 91 free throw attempts and in the end, McCook put five players into double digits in posting an 80-74 win.
McCook held a 39-30 lead at halftime and pushed the lead to double digits 56-45 on a bucket by Shelby Hemmann.
Central Wyoming battled back, cutting the deficit to four points, 61-57 on three free throws by Abbey Wilson. McCook came back to go back up by 10 points 69-59. Central Wyoming cut the deficit to 77-71 with 30 seconds to play, but clutch free throw shooting down the stretch was key for the Indians.
McCook buried 33 of 52 free throws as Tiffani Lewis was 9 of 10, Hemmann was 7 of 14, and Akia Davis was 6 of 10.
Central Wyoming also shot plenty of free throws, going 27 of 39. The difference in the game proved to be 3-point shooting where McCook connected on seven treys, while Central had just three treys.
McCook was led in scoring by Lewis with 15 points, followed by Hemmann and Mikaula Newton with 13 points each, and Akia and Amir Davis each with 12 points.
Central Wyoming was led by Emily Smith with a double double of 24 points and 12 rebounds. Marissa Hogan also pitched in 13 points, while Porsha Wadsworth had 10 points.
McCook
Central Wyoming 30 44 – 74
MCCOOK
Amir Davis 12, Akia Davis 12, Brehanna Daniels 1, Mikaila Newton 13, Tiffani Lewis 13, Julie Gallegos 9, Shelby Hemmann 13, Mary-Ann Frederick 2, Jenecia Jenkins 3.
CENTRAL WYOMING
Shay Cooper 5, Stephanie Smith 4, Elise Keller 2, Lauren Bond 4, Emily Smith 24, Marissa Hogan 13, Porsha Wadsworth 10, Kaylee Walker 5, Abbey Wilson 7.
Gillette 66, Northeastern JC 60
The Gillette and Northeastern Junior College basketball game was a contest that no lead was safe. The Gillette women hung on for a 66-60 victory to advance in the regional tournament.
NJC was behind by 10 points late in the first half and cut the deficit to 32-31 at halftime.
The second half was a back and forth contest where the Pronghorns jumped out to an eight point lead at 53-45 on a 3-pointer by Kiela Garner. NJC battled back slicing the lead to 53-50 on a 3-pointer by Tiffany Mines only to watch Gillette come back to push the lead to 59-50.
NJC kept fighting, slicing the lead to two points on a 7-0 run. Gillette, however, pushed the lead back to 62-57 and then hit clutch free throws down the stretch to get the win.
Gillette shot 32 percent from the field and made 22 of 39 free throws. NJC shot 44 percent from the field and was 13 of 20 from the free throw line.
The difference in the game was turnovers, where NJC committed 23 turnovers to Gillette’s 13.
Gillette had three players in double figures, led by Christine Davis with 19 points, followed by Freye Newton with 15 and Kenosha Wright with 12 points.
NJC put two players in double figures. Mines had 17 points, including three 3-pointers, while Ashley Kennedy had 15 points and seven rebounds.
Gillette 32 34 – 66
NE Colorado 31 – 29 – 60
GILLETTE
Hallie Stocklin 3, Christina Davis 19, Kiela Garner 8, Mattison Jolivich 3, Alicia Carline 3, Kenosha Wright 12, Freye Newton 15, Breanna Thomas 3.
NORTHEASTERN JC
Jordan Bishop 2, Jenna Vandenbark 5, Carle Cortez-Walser 2, Alex Ochoa 4, Tiffany Mines 17, Dreanna Strange 4, Kylee Crumley 3, Charron Johnson 8, Ashley Kennedy 15.
Northwest Wyoming 65, Otero 56
Northwest Wyoming put four players in double figures and used a late second-half run to move past defending Region IX champions Otero Junior College 65-56 Monday afternoon in the first round of the regional tournament.
Otero held a 20-18 lead in the first half before Northwest went on a 11-0 run behind good inside play to forge ahead 29-20. Otero fought back to cut the lead to 31-30 on three straight 3-pointers by Siutiti Lo’amanu, but a late bucket by Leslie Thronburg put the Trappers up 33-30 at halftime.
The second half was a slugfest as both teams were tied at 39-39 with 14:53 to play. Northwest would then go on a 14-4 run to grab a 53-43 lead. The run was highlighted by six points from Savannah Minder and an offensive putback from Imari Simpson.
Otero would cut the lead back to three points at 57-54, but clutch free throw shooting by the Trappers was enough to put them in the quarterfinals against Sheridan College Tuesday at 1 p.m.
Northwest won the contest from the field, making 40 percent of their shots while Otero was just 27 percent. Rebounding also played a part as Northwest out-rebounded the Rattlers 54-48.
Northwest was led by Andressa Augusto with 16 points followed by Minder with 13, Thronburg with 11, and Kennedy Allen with 10.
Otero was led by Lo’amanu with 18 points including four 3-pointers. Chelby Santiago pitched in 13 points.
Otero 30 26 – 56
NW Wyoming 33 32 – 65
OTERO JUNIOR COLLEGE
Holly Carter 2, Siutiti Lo’Amanu 18, Brittany Gutierrez , Chelby Santiago 13, Danica Dhipley 8, Sarah Pigg 7.
NORTHWEST WYOMING
Savannah Minder 13, Andressa Augusto 16, Kennedy Allen 10, Leslie Thronburg 11, Leanne Winterholler 6, Imari Simpson 9.