Plainswomen Could Not Get The Stops They Needed In Loss To Western Nebraska

For their opening game of Region IX conference game, the Plainswomen hosted the Cougars from Western Nebraska.  Being that it was their first conference game of the season, the Plainswomen wanted to get off on the right start and put them in contention for March.  These games in the first semester are just important as those in February, so every game counts towards how they are seeded for the tournament.

In the first quarter, the game would be a balanced game the first four minutes, but the Cougars would go on 22-4 run on the Plainswomen.  During that run, NJC would have missed shots and turnovers in which WNCC would capitalize on.  With the horn buzzing to end the first quarter, the Plainswomen would be trailing 28-11. 

The second quarter Northeastern would be able to make up some of their deficit that was made in the first.  Before they found success however, they had to weather one more storm by the Cougars that saw them behind 41-20 with just two minutes left.  In that two minutes, the Plainswomen strung together a 13-2 run that brought them within nine points, but still trailing 42-33.

The women have been working on how their third quarter execution, and have slowly made improvements.  This third started well by the Plainswomen almost matching point for point with the Cougars in the first five minutes.  But in the closing minutes of the quarter, WNCC was able to capitalize on a few missed shots by Northeastern that allowed them to outscore NJC by six.

It was all coming down to the final quarter of play.  This will determine who would get their first conference win and will get the first win in their series.  The Cougars would already have the lead, and the Plainswomen would have to get hot and put some points on the board, which they were more than capable of doing.  As the quarter started and time passed, the scoring would be about point for point.  It was good for the Plainswomen that they were scoring points, but they needed to get stops and hold the Cougars from matching points.  But it was too little too late and the Plainswomen would fall to the Cougars 81-63.

The Plainswomen will be back in action on Thursday December 7 as they are on the road to play Laramie County CC.