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Win Pushes Conference Record To 4-2
After a loss to Casper College last week, the Northwest College’s Lady Trapper basketball team bounced back with a win over Gillette College on Saturday.
NWC’s conference record now stands at 4-2, with an overall record of 16-6.
CASPER 73, NWC 60
Heading into the Jan. 24 game, the hosting Lady Thunderbirds were undefeated in the conference and 18-2 overall.
At the end of the first quarter, Casper led 19-15, but the Lady Trappers fought back in the second quarter to tie the game at 34 heading into halftime.
In the third quarter, Northwest College outscored Casper 21-20 to take a one-point lead going into the final quarter of play, 55-54.
“But we let them go on an 8-0 run to start the fourth quarter,” said NWC head coach Janis Beal, adding, “On their home court, against a No. 1 team, we can’t have those lapses where we let them kind of go on that big of a run.”
Casper won 73-60.
“Overall, it was a step in the right direction ...,” said Beal.
She added, “we played with a lot better energy — just played harder than we did the previous week against Miles [Community College],” said Beal. “I was glad to see that change. Thought we took care of the ball a little better against Casper — which is huge.”
Dani McManamen led the team with 14 points.
“I thought that Dani played really well. She attacked the basket and got some scoring for us,” Beal said.
Julynne da Silva Sa also scored in double digits with 12.
“[da Silva Sa] played really well in the post. Casper has a really big girl also and it was kind of a chess match,” Beal said. “She was being physical and finishing shots.”
Kira Marlow netted nine points, while Dallas Petties led on the boards with eight, all defensive.
As a team, the Lady Trappers shot 41.5 percent from the field, 42.9 percent at the arc and 83.3 percent from the free throw line.
Casper College shot 42.2 percent from the field, 33.3 percent from the 3-point line and 50 percent from the free throw line.
After last week’s competition, Casper College leads the conference with a 6-0 record and a 20-2 overall record.
NWC 82, GILLETTE 53
After the tough loss at Casper, the Lady Trappers exploded back into the win column Saturday, downing the Gillette Lady Pronghorns 82-53 at home.
“[It] felt like the girls’ came out strong from the beginning, kind of jumped out to a lead,” Beal said.
The Lady Trappers led 23-12 after the first quarter.
“It’s really important for us to get out to a good start,” said Beal.
In the second quarter, Gillette battled back to cut NWC’s advantage to 36-27.
The Lady Trappers came out strong in the third quarter to outscore the Lady Pronghorns 23-11 for a score of 59-38 heading into the final quarter of play.
McManamen had a double-double scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds (six on defense and four on offense) and also had five assists, two steals and zero turnovers.
“Tonight we definitely had a lot more energy,” McManamen said. “We came out stronger, and we had a lot more assists, playing more team ball.”
Also scoring in double digits was da Silva Sa, leading the team with 15. Petties had 13 and Charri McArthur had 11 points, including three from behind the arc.
“We haven’t shot the ball great the last little while so we’ve got to do a better job of that — but seeing Charri [McArthur] knock down three 3’s, that was good to see,” Beal said.
As a team, the Lady Trappers had 22 assists and 14 turnovers.
“We played a lot better team ball just as far as trying to make that extra pass to a teammate that maybe can get a little better shot,” Beal said of the assist/ turnover ratio.
“We forced some turnovers which led to some easy baskets for us [too],” said Beal said.
NWC had 16 steals and Gillette had 25 turnovers.
On the boards, the NWC outrebounded Gillette 38-24.
As a team, the Lady Trappers shot 48.6 percent from the field, 26.1 percent at the arc and 80 percent from the free throw line.
Gillette shot 37.7 percent from the field, 44.4 percent at the arc and 69.2 percent from the charity stripe.
“It was good to kind of get back on track,” Beal said of the win.
The Lady Trappers faced Sheridan College Wednesday evening and will next travel to play Western Wyoming Community College on Saturday at 3 p.m.