Plainswomen journey comes to an end with loss in semi-finals of Region IX

March 9, 2006

The NJC Plainswomen ended their season with a loss to Western Nebraska on Wednesday, March 8th in LaJunta, losing 66-77. The Plainswomen finish the season with a record of 18 wins and 15 losses on the year. The number eighth ranked Western Nebraska Lady Cougars moves on to the Region IX Championship where they will meet the Casper Lady Thunderbirds.

Northeastern battled the whole game against Western Nebraska. There were several lead changes in the first half with the Plainswomen taking a 38-37 lead into halftime. In the second half the Plainswomen simply ran out of gas. The lead see-sawed back and forth until a Western Nebraska run with seven minutes left in the game. WNCC's Heather Karner nailed a 3-pointer as the shot clock was running down and then she registered a steal and lay-up to put WNCC up 48-44.

NJC kept battling and tied the score at 48. The Cougar's defensive pressure caused the Plainswomen fits and Victoria Martin scored six straight points to give WNCC a 56-48 lead. NJC couldn't recover after that and WNCC went on for the 11 point win.

NJC's Basova once again led the way in scoring with 16 points and grabbed 6 rebounds. Crystal Wipf came off the bench scoring 11 points and grabbing 6 rebounds. Roni Whitman registered 11 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists.