Amiyah Donaldson spent just one season at Western Nebraska Community College and in that one year she accomplished plenty.

                One of the biggest things happened Tuesday night when the 5-foot-7 guard signed to continue playing at the University of Maine.

                “I am going to the University of Maine and I am going there because I believe it will give me the best opportunity possible and really help me develop as a player and person,” Donaldson said. “I am extremely excited to be going Division I. It has been a blessing, and it has been a dream of mine.”

                The University of Main Black Bears are part of the American East Conference and qualified for the NCAA tournament in March. Maine fell to No. 2 seed Ohio State in the first round. Maine finished the year at 24-10 and won the conference title over the University of Vermont.

                Donaldson said she wanted to go closer to home and Maine is a 14-hour drive from her home in Cleveland, Ohio.

                “I wanted to go closer to home,” she said, “This happened in about a span of a week in that they reached out to me. There were other schools I was talking too, but ultimately, when I got to Maine and got to visit them, I knew that was the school I should go to.”

                Donaldson only played one year at WNCC after transferring in from the University of Charleston. Donaldson played in 32 games averaging 9.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists. She shot 36.8 percent from the 3-point arc and was a 90.2 percent free throw shooter. She knocked down 39 treys and was 37-41 from the free throw line.

                Donaldson is only the second person in school history to make over 90 percent of her free throws for a season. Allysah Booth made 96.4 percent of her charity tosses (54 of 56).

                Donaldson finished the year with 12 games of finishing with double figure scoring. Her best game was a 23-point contest against Miles Community College. She also had a 21-point contest against McCook Community College on February 6.

                The point guard said she improved a lot in her time here, especially on the mental aspect of the game.

                “I improved a lot,” she said. “I feel like I improved my IQ more and understanding the game.”

                Donaldson is the second Cougar to sign to play Division I in the past week. Mackenzie Joseph signed last week to attend the University of New Orleans. Donaldson said that shows how much players get from the program at WNCC.

                “It just shows the success of the program and just how much goes into the players,” she said. “It is just the growth that is brought out.”

                What makes Donaldson unique is that she is athletic. While basketball was a sport that she loved since she started playing when she was five or six years old, she also played other sports in high school from track and soccer, and at one point she did softball and gymnastics. But, she said, basketball was her main one.”

                “It is my everything. It opened the opportunity that I don’t think I would have had not playing basketball,” she said. “I have meant so many great and amazing people along this journey. It has presented me with a lot of opportunities.”

                This Saturday she will be graduating from WNCC with a graphics art degree, and she said leaving the friends that she met will be hard.

                “It will be bittersweet, and I will be very sad,” she said. “It will be very emotional. I have great memories here.”

WNCC baseball set to open regionals Thursday against Lamar

The Western Nebraska Community College baseball team knows that the important part of the season begins Thursday at the Region IX baseball tournament in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

The Cougars, who are 27-28 on the season, earned the fourth seed in the regional tournament and will open against No. 5 Lamar Community College in the first round on Thursday at 12 noon. If they win, they will face No. 1 seed Southeast Community College on Friday at 12 noon.

                If they lose against Lamar, they will have to play again on Thursday at 3 p.m. against the loser of the other first-round game between No. 3 McCook Community College and No. 6 Northeastern Junior College. That game is slated for Thursday at 9 a.m.

                The winner of the NJC/McCook game will face the No. 2 seed Otero College on Friday.

                It is a double elimination tournament with the championship game slated for Sunday. The Region IX winner will qualify for the district finals in Arizona the following week.

                WNCC sophomore pitcher Gus Allred said that the team has plenty of confidence going in after finishing the regular season winning five straight.

                “I feel great about where we’re at,” he said. “We’ve had plenty of ups and downs this season, but I have confidence in all of our guys in the talent and effort they bring to the table.”

                Allred said they just need to keep playing hard and scrapping for everything to get wins at regionals.

                “Our attitude is that outworking opponents and scrapping for everything we can is what will give us an edge,” he said. “We just have to remember what we’re here for and our goal as a team, and I think our guys really believe in the system.”

                The Cougars are looking for their third Region IX title in school history. The Cougars won titles in 2007 and 2021 and finished runner-up in 2004, 2010, 2017, and 2019. Allred said it won’t be easy, but if everything comes together, it could happen.

                “It’s going to be a battle for sure, but I think we’ve got what it takes to pull it off,” Allred said. “Right now, we’re solely focused on the tournament, but if we do take the title home, our sights will be set straight to the Western District tournament. We want to make this season as long as we possibly can, and we’ll do whatever we can to make that happen.”

                WNCC enters regionals after winning five straight to close out the regular season, including taking four from Northeastern Junior College last weekend with strong pitching and defense and manufacturing runs.

                WNCC head coach Mike Jones said the team pitched and played defense well during the NJC games.

“We pitched really good all four games and played really good defense also,” Jones said. “Offensively, we found ways to score runs. NJC’s pitcher was good and they were tough on us, but we found a way to score enough runs to win. Right now we have confidence going and we have momentum going. The guys feel really good about finishing off their season with some wins. That gives us an opportunity to go into the tournament feeling good with confidence.”

                The winner of the regional tourney advances to the district finals in Arizona the following weekend. Jones said they will need to keep playing good defense to get wins at regionals.

                “You get there in Colorado Springs and it is a really big field and a lot of ground you have to cover in the outfield,” he said. “We have to keep throwing strikes and you have to play really good defense behind the pitchers.”