The Bayard native, who canned three 3-pointers, said it was a huge win in a physical game, especially after the Cougars lost a couple games last week.

“We just listened to coach Harnish and ran our plays tonight,” Kistler said. “We broke their press and just played. This win is really good that we now know that we can shoot the ball again and we have momentum going into these next three games at home. Hopefully that will help us out.”

Assistant coach Jennifer Pedersen was pleased with how this team held their composure in a bruising contest.

“It was a physical ball game. McCook full-court pressed us all night and the good thing was that the kids did not retaliate against the pressure,” she said. “They held their composure pretty good once we got into the game. That was one of the keys. We also rebounded the ball better.”

WNCC held a 17-12 lead with under 10 minutes to play in the first half and then picked up the offense as they raced to a 34-28 lead. In the second half, McCook sliced the lead to five, 45-40, before the Cougars pushed the lead to double digits against at 52-40.

Kistler said that everyone came together, especially since they have injuries to key players.

“We played well especially since a lot of our players are injured right now such as Stormye [Everett] and Michelle [Glaze],” she said. “We really did good pulling together. Like Coach Harnish said, it was a good gutsy win. We are glad that we got the win and now we can focus on these next three games.”

Kistler was just one of two Cougars to finish in double figures. Tiffany Moorer added 12 points followed by eight points by Yuki Morimoto and seven points from Thais Pinto.

Pedersen said the weekend’s two wins are good confidence boosters heading into next week’s three home games.

“I think we would have liked to have won this game by a few more points because it was a sub-region game, but it is important that the kids came out on the court and got through some things tonight,” she said. “We are starting to work through some of the trouble that we had [in last week’s games’ and that Is good because next week is a big week for us.”

WNCC will entertain Casper College on Tuesday and then host Highway 26 rival Eastern Wyoming College on Thursday. They will then face Northeast Nebraska in a sub-region contest on Saturday afternoon.

WNCC (18-5) 34 32 – 66

McCook (13-11) 28 30 – 58

WESTERN NEBRASKA

Amber Kistler 26, Tiffany Moorer 12, Yuki Morimoto 8, Thais Pinto 7, Ariane Brown 5, Kelli Culver 4, Carolina Alves 2, Shelby Campbell 2, Khayla Gladney 1.