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New Northwest College women’s basketball coach Cody Helenbolt is set to return six players from last year’s roster, including four players who received significant starting time and two …
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New Northwest College women’s basketball coach Cody Helenbolt is set to return six players from last year’s roster, including four players who received significant starting time and two key bench players who provided a spark last year for the Trappers.
“I was hired so late that they kind of had to decide already,” Helenbolt said in an August interview. “That wasn’t really up to me. When I got the job they said, ‘hey, these six are coming back.’ So that was good, because recruiting as late as I got the job was a major challenge.”
Five of the returning six from last season for the Trappers are guards, including Carolina Ruiz from Madrid, Spain, and Bianca Silva from Florianopolis, Brazil, who was named to the Region IX All-Defensive team a season ago.
Ruiz started in 15 games for the Trappers, averaging 7.1 points per game while adding 3.2 assists per game, while Silva averaged 9.3 points, 3.7 assists and 3.1 steals per game.
“I think Bianca came back looking really good,” Helenbolt said. “I think she’s set to really have a big year, and I like how her and Carolina play together.”
Another starter returning for the Trapper women is guard Tayva Phillips, from Colorado Springs, Colorado.
She started in 27 games for the Trappers last season, averaging 8.4 points and 1.9 steals per game.
Also returning from Colorado Springs is Jai’La Porter, who came off the bench for the Trappers in nearly every game and averaged 2.1 points per game.
The final guard returning for Northwest is Selen Ucak, returning to Powell from Istanbul, Turkey.
She also came off the bench in nearly every game for Northwest, chipping in 1.5 points a contest.
“Tayva, Jai’La and Selen have all just been doing their thing and doing a good job too,” Helenbolt said. “We’re pretty deep at the guard spot, and so that’s a real strength of ours I think.”
The one returning Trapper forward and Wyoming player is Kelsi Nicholson from Burlington, who started in just under half the contests while averaging 5.1 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
“I think those kids have improved just judging by what I’ve seen of them,” Helenbolt said. “They have a year of experience so I’m really excited to see what they can do.”
Adding to those six returning sophomores will be eight new incoming freshmen, as Helenbolt said he tried to find complimentary pieces to go alongside those returners this upcoming season.
“I’d say the players we brought in are more spot up shooters, we got some defenders and then we got a little bit of size to go with it,” Helenbolt said. “That was kind of my goal was to get some complimentary pieces because I had heard that these guards were pretty good.”
