GILLETTE, Wyo. – The Western Nebraska Community College women's basketball team opened 2026 on the road against Gillette College and fell to the Pronghorns 69-54 on Wednesday.

                The Cougars saw all seven players that saw action get into the scoring column with three in double figures. Celina Donyo and Charisma Johnson each had 14 points while Aniaya Burton-Hernandez tallied 10 points.

                WNCC drops to 10-6 on the season as they will next be in action Saturday, January 10 when they open South Conference play against Northeastern Junior College at Cougar Palace. Tip-off for the conference showdown is slated for the 1 p.m. with the men's game to follow.

                Wednesday, WNCC played the Pronghorns tough for the first part of the first quarter, earning ties with Gillette at 2-2 and 4-4. After that, Gillette went up by double digits, leading 22-11 before Juseana-Rae Delatori got a steal and bucket to close out the first quarter with WNCC trailing 22-13.

                The second quarter saw the Cougars get to within seven points at 26-19. Gillette came back with a 9-4 run to lead 35-23. WNCC's Ruth Lively got the Cougars to within single digits as the Scottsbluff grad buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the Cougars into the locker room trailing 35-26.

                WNCC opened the third quarter with a bucket, but Gillette went on a 13-0 run to lead 48-28. WNCC settled in and traded buckets with the Pronghorns and finished the third scoring the final three points to trail 57-36.

                WNCC outscored Gillette in the fourth 18-12 and made it a 17-point, 59-42 game early. The Cougars had the deficit down to 13 points with a minute to play, but couldn't get any closer.

                WNCC shot 33.3 percent from the field and buried just one of 13 3-pointers. The Cougars were 11-of-16 from the free throw line.

                Gillette shot 37 percent from the field and made four 3-pointers. The Pronghorns were 9-of-23 from the charity stripe.

                Gillette won the rebound battle 54-45. Burton-Hernandez led the Cougars with seven boards followed by Zozefine Sipolina with seven, and Donyo and Delatorie each with six.

WNCC                13 13 10 18 – 54
Gillette                22 13 22 12 – 69
WNCC
Celina Donyo 14, Charisma Johnson 14, Aniaya Burton-Hernandez 10, Juseana-Rae Delatori 7, Veralyn Aviles 3, Zozefine Sipolina 3, Ruth Lively 3.