Casper College Sweeps Western Nebraska

The Casper College basketball teams renewed their long-standing Region IX rivalry with Western Nebraska on Wednesday night at the Erickson gym and the T-Birds prevailed on the ladies' side and the men's side. The Casper College women's team; ranked #10 in the country needed double overtime to beat #22 Western Nebraska 95-88 to improve to 5-0 on the year.

At one point during the first half, the Birds were down by 7 and trailed by as many as 13 in the 2nd half. Casper showed a lot of fortitude even though they went just 26-42 from the free-throw line, which was a 62% clip. Casper shot just 34% from the field in the 2nd half and overtimes and was led in scoring by Joseana Vaz with 19, with Natalia Otkhmezuri throwing in 18, and Marija Bakic had 15. Western Nebraska got 12 points from Cheyenne East High School grad Ky Buell. The Casper ladies will host Utah State-Eastern on Thursday night at the Erickson Gym at 5:30.

The Casper College men's team improved to 2-1 on the year as they outlasted Western Nebraska 100-91. The T-Birds had an 8 point lead at the halftime intermission and outscored the Cougars by one in the 2nd half. Casper had a phenomenal shooting night going 56% from the floor and hot 14, three-pointers out of 28 attempts. They received 21 points from Traizon Byrd, 20 from Peter Turay, and 19 from Trey Boston. Western Nebraska was led in scoring by Chase Thompon with 24 and Agwa Nywesh with 21.

The Casper men's team will hit the road this weekend for a game at Snow College in Utah on Friday and Utah State Eastern on Saturday.