Jan. 11, 2008

Final Stats

By Ken McDowell Sports Editor

NORTH PLATTE, NEB. - Even if the offense is a little rusty, the North Eastern Junior College (NJC) Plainswomen can always count on their defense to come through.

On Tuesday the Plainswomen took the basketball court for the first time in exactly a month by playing at North Platte, Neb., Community College. NJC fell behind early, but came back strong to post the 65-41 win while improving to 13-2 on the season.

"We started out a little slow by falling behind 14-11," reported NJC Coach Darrel Parker. "You could tell we had been off for a month, because we just couldn't get into a flow very much on offense. "But our defensive intensity was good, and after settling down we started to get some steals and some easy baskets."

Sophomore Sarah Conner didn't show many signs of being off for a month as she led the Plainswomen with 16 points. Sophomore Jennifer Garner followed with 13 and sophomore Kristen Forbes 12. Several other Plainswomen contributed in the scoring as Jacqie Neill added 7 points, Jessica Priest 4, Silke Forstmann 3 and 2 each for Taija Bennett, Christina Brennan, Stacy Howard, Candace Ewert and Shorty Ramos. Forbes and Priest each grabbed 9 rebounds.

Parker and the Plainswomen did receive some bad news after the holiday break that Haxtun freshman Kassie Kroeger is scheduled to have ankle surgery today (Wednesday) and will miss the rest of the season. Kroeger has battled ankle injuries throughout her high school career, according to Parker. "Kassie was playing real well before the holiday break," he added. "Fortunately we do have a lot of depth, but hopefully she can come back next year and keep improving."

The Plainswomen will take their annual swing through Wyoming this weekend as they will play at Sheridan on Friday and Casper on Saturday. NJC will be back home Tuesday to host Eastern Wyoming Community College.

"We need to improve a lot more on offense if we want to be successful in our games at Sheridan and Casper,"