Northwest College

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NWC Lady Trappers 2-0 At First Bank Of Wyoming Shootout

Wins Against Williston State, Eastern Wyoming Push Record To 3-2

The Northwest College Lady Trappers basketball team won both its games at the First Bank of Wyoming Shootout on Friday and Saturday, thumping Williston State College 88-32 and winning over Eastern Wyoming College 80-72. 

“I think a big thing for us, with moving forward from last weekend in some of our struggles, is that I thought they brought it for 40 minutes,” said NWC head coach Janis Beal. 

NWC 88, WILLISTON 32
On Friday evening, the Lady Trappers tipped off against Williston. 

“One of the key goals we set for ourselves was forcing some turnovers and kind of generating our offense from the defense, and I thought they did a really good job with that,” Beal said. 

NWC forced 34 turnovers and had 19 steals in the game, while holding Williston to just three points in the first quarter. Northwest College won 88-32. 

“Just energy-wise, they maintained it for the whole game and that’s something I was really pleased with,” Beal said of her squad. In previous contests, she felt the team was struggling with the mental aspect of the ups and downs of a game. 

Everybody on the team put points on the board, as the entire bench played. Beal said that will help with experience as the season progresses. 

“The thing I was most excited about — I think it shows the team we are — is when our starters at the end of the game were getting excited about stuff that was happening on the court,” Beal said. The Lady Trappers’ theme for the season is “we over me,” and Beal felt the team “did a good job of portraying that.” 

Kira Marlow led in rebounds with eight, two on offense and six on defense, to go along with 17 points. Julynne Silva also netted 17 points to go along with seven boards, three offensive and four defensive. 

The only critique Beal had for the game was “we’ve got to a better job of shooting free throws.” 

Overall for the game the Lady Trappers shot 46.9 percent. 

“In a close game, that can come back to hurt us,” said Beal. 

NWC 80, EASTERN 72
On Saturday, Northwest College faced off against Eastern Wyoming College, a team that beat the Lady Trappers the prior week. 

“It was definitely a battle for the whole game,” Beal said. “Definitely the second quarter was huge for us.” 

The game was tied at 21 after the first quarter, but NWC made a run in the second to take a 39-27 lead. In the previous encounter, Eastern had taken a big lead in the second quarter and the Lady Trappers were unable to come back. 

In the third quarter, the Lady Trappers outscored Eastern 24-22 to make the score 63-49 going into the fourth quarter. The Lady Trappers won 80-72.

Beal said that putting together four quarters was “big for us.” 

“The biggest thing for me is I was glad to see the girls respond after a week ago being beat by them [EWC],” Beal said. “We made some corrections and changed some things and they did a good job of understanding those changes.” 

The team not only responded to the corrections from the first game against Eastern, but also to the coaches’ critique about free throws from the night before against Williston: The Lady Trappers shot 88.5 percent from the line. 

“Free throw shooting was huge for us in this game,” Beal said, adding, “That was good to see that improvement from the night before also.” 

Kira Marlow led NWC in scoring with 19 points and finished with six rebounds.

Silva led in rebounds with 10, having eight defensive and two offensive, while adding 13 points for a double-double. 

Dallas Pettis and Dani McManamen each had eight boards, while Marlow and Tayla Sayer each had two steals. 

This coming week, the Lady Trappers will play four games in six days. 

The first three games will be played in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, at the North Idaho Classic. 

In the North Idaho Classic, the first game will be at 5:30 p.m. today (Thursday). The second will be on Friday at noon versus North Idaho College and the third game against Lower Columbia College at 9 a.m. on Saturday. (Those game times for the North Idaho Classic are in Pacific Standard Time.)

The Lady Trappers will then return home for a Tuesday rematch with Laramie County Community College at 5:30 p.m.