Pairings for the Division 1 Region IX women’s basketball tournament have been announced. McCook Community College will play Gillette Thursday at 1:30 p.m. in Scottsbluff.
This will be the first of four first-round games on tap for the eight-team, three-day tournament. All games pit schools from the south division against schools from the north division. Other games include: Casper vs. Northeastern Junior College and 3:30 p.m., Western Wyoming vs. Trinidad State at 6 p.m. and the host school Western Nebraska vs. Eastern Wyoming at 8 p.m. Semi-finals are set for Friday at 6 and 8 p.m. with the finals Saturday at 6 p.m.
MCC (8-2 in the south, 19-11 overall) finished second in the south division behind Western Nebraska (10-0, 24-5). Both teams received byes for the play-in games Friday and Western Nebraska won hosting rights which alternates each year between the south and north. In that play-in round, third seeded Trinidad State (4-6, 9-18) played sixth-seeded Otero College (1-9, 4-25) with Trinidad winning 130-122 in double overtime. No. 5 Northeastern Junior College (3-7, 8-23) traveled to No. 4 Lamar (4-6, 12-16) and upset the Runnin’ Lopes 71-55.
In the north, Casper (11-1, 24-6) and Western Wyoming (9-3, 22-8) received first-round byes. No. 3 Gillette (8-4, 22-9) hosted No. 6 Laramie County Community College (4-8, 13-16) Saturday with the Pronghorns winning 64-49. In the other north play-in game No. 4 Northwest Wyoming (4-8, 17-14) hosted No. 5 Eastern Wyoming (4-8, 15-16) Saturday in Powell where Eastern Wyoming won a 63-56 in double-overtime.