Two of the top opponents in Region IX made for a difficult opening schedule to the conference season at home for the Northwest College women’s basketball team, which dropped a pair of contests …
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Two of the top opponents in Region IX made for a difficult opening schedule to the conference season at home for the Northwest College women’s basketball team, which dropped a pair of contests 84-55 and 76-53 to Casper College and Western Wyoming on Thursday and Saturday.
CASPER COLLEGE 84, NORTHWEST 55
Opening region play at home the Trappers (13-7 overall, 0-2 Region IX North) welcomed the Thunderbirds (15-6 overall, 2-1 Region IX North) in both team’s opening game.
After Northwest scored the opening three points the Thunderbirds responded with a 10-0 run and led 10-3 four minutes into the game.
The two teams exchanged baskets the rest of the quarter, before a late 3-pointer put Casper College up 22-16 going into the second.
In that second quarter the Trappers pulled within a single possession early in the quarter, but Casper continued to keep Northwest at arms’ length and led 31-25 midway through.
A late 8-0 run over the final two minutes of the half gave Casper College a cushion at the break as the Trappers trailed 43-30 heading into the locker room.
Northwest was unable to cut into the lead through the midway point of the third quarter, as the Trappers continued to trail 51-38.
Late in the third quarter, Selen Ucak made a 3-pointer, cutting the lead to 10 before the Trappers made a run early in the fourth quarter trailing 53-43.
Another Ucak 3-pointer followed by a Kelsi Nicholson 3-pointer cut the lead to 53-49 just a minute into the fourth quarter.
That was when the wheels fell off for the Trappers.
Casper answered with a 3-pointer, which kick-started an 11-0 run.
“We got it to four with eight minutes left and then they hit a three. We took a timeout, and then from that point forward, we just couldn’t really get any sort of rhythm going,” coach Cody Helenbolt said. “We couldn’t secure a rebound. So even when we got stops, they got second chance shots, and they didn’t miss twice in a row.”
That run extended over an eight minute span to a 31-2 run which sealed the win for Casper with a minute left.
Over those eight minutes the Thunderbirds poured in six 3-pointers, and finished with the 84-55 win after outscoring the Trappers 31-12 in the final quarter.
“We played OK for the first three quarters, and then we didn’t play well at all the last eight minutes,” Helenbolt said. “That’s a good team. If we could have rebounded a little bit better, made a couple shots, we could have given ourselves a chance there at the end.”
Bianca Silva led the Trappers with 17 points as the lone Trapper in double figures.
Jai’La Porter led with seven rebounds.
WESTERN WYOMING 76, NORTHWEST 53
After the loss Thursday the Trappers turned around to match up against the Mustangs (16-5 overall, 3-0 Region IX North).
Northwest got off to a better start but trailed early in the contest, as the Mustangs held an 11-8 lead midway through the first quarter.
The Trappers continued to trail through the end of the first, but remained within striking distance behind 16-11 to start the second.
Western Wyoming started out stronger in the second quarter, building its lead to 30-23 midway through the frame after a Nicholson jumper kept the lead from reaching double digits.
The Mustangs briefly made it a double digit game, before the Trappers ended the half with a 5-0 scoring margin to trail 33-28 after a late Ucak jumper.
Throughout the first half the Trappers had opportunities to score at the rim, but did not convert most of their easy chances.
“I guess the positive is we had shots at the hoop. We just didn’t make them,” Helenbolt said. “At halftime we were down five and we probably could have been up 12. It’s just tough to put yourself in that situation, especially when we’re also turning the ball over.”
The Mustangs started the second half with a 12-0 scoring run to build the lead out to 17 over the first 3:30 minutes.
The strong third quarter continued for the visitors as the Trappers were out of sync and fell further behind as a pair of free throws made it a 20 point game at 55-35 with 3:04 left.
After a quarter plagued with turnovers and lower scoring the Trappers trailed 57-38 heading into the fourth quarter.
In that final frame the lead reached as many as 28 at 76-48 before the Mustangs finished with a 76-53 win.
Northwest had 24 turnovers compared to 14 by Western Wyoming, and was outrebounded 41-31.
“Rebounding and turnovers have been the things that we have to do well and when we don’t do those two things, you have a game like Saturday. We didn’t do either one well,” Helenbolt said. “That just led to a frustrating day.”
No Trappers reached double figure scoring but Tayva Phillips, Porter and Elise Swan all finished with nine points.
Porter led once again with seven rebounds.
BUSY WEEK
Northwest heads out of town for the next four contests, starting with three in five days this week.
The Trappers start with a game in Cheyenne against Laramie County Community College (10-7 overall, 1-0 Region IX North) at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.
“Hopefully we can just play hard for 40 minutes and take care of the ball,” Helenbolt said.
Northwest then continues to Torrington to take on Eastern Wyoming (9-10 overall, 0-2 Region IX North) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
The week won’t stop there, as the Trappers will head to Riverton on Tuesday night to take on Central Wyoming (5-15 overall, 0-2 Region IX North) at 5:30 p.m.
CASPER COLLEGE 84, NORTHWEST 55
Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()
Points — Bianca Silva 17, Kelsi Nicholson 9, Emma Pique 7, Selen Ucak 7, Tayva Phillips 5, Jai’La Porter 5, Carolina Ruiz 5
Rebounds — Jai’La Porter 7 (2), Emma Pique 3, Kelsi Nicholson 3 (2), Taylee Carlson 3, Tayva Phillips 2 (1), Bianca Silva 2
Assists — Tayva Phillips 3, Bianca Silva 2, Selen Ucak 2, Emma Pique 1, Jai’La Porter 1, Carolina Ruiz 1
Steals — Tayva Phillips 2, Bianca Silva 2, Kelsi Nicholson 1, Taylee Carlson 1
Blocks — Emma Pique 1, Kelsi Nicholson 1
WESTERN WYOMING 76, NORTHWEST 53
Points — Tayva Phillips 9, Jai’La Porter 9, Elise Swan 9, Kelsi Nicholson 8, Emma Pique 5, Sydnee Harris 4, Bianca Silva 4, Carolina Ruiz 3, Selen Ucak 2
Rebounds — Jai’La Porter 7 (2), Kelsi Nicholson 4 (2), Taylee Carlson 4 (2), Emma Pique 3 (1), Selen Ucak 3 (2), Tayva Phillips 2 (1), Sydnee Harris 2, Bianca Silva 2, Elise Swan 2, Carolina Ruiz 2
Assists — Tayva Phillips 3, Emma Pique 2, Carolina Ruiz 2, Jai’La Porter 1, Bianca Silva 1, Elise Swan 1, Kelsi Nicholson 1, Selen Ucak 1, Taylee Carlson 1
Steals — Tayva Phillips 2, Emma Pique 1, Elise Swan 1, Kelsi Nicholson 1
Blocks — Emma Pique 1