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Teams will play in Idaho this weekend
The Northwest College women’s basketball team went 1-2 over the weekend at the Salt Lake Community College Tournament.
The Trappers won their match-up with Utah State University- Eastern, but then dropped the next two games against No. 5 College of Southern Idaho and the host Salt Lake Community College.
Northwest (3-2) got out to a 58-35 halftime lead against the uptempo Utah State University- Eastern Golden Eagles on its way to a 97-85 win.
The Golden Eagles run a fast-paced offense and look to press and trap on defense. That game plan led to a lot of turnovers and fast-break points for the Trappers.
Four Trappers scored in double figures, including two who recorded double-doubles.
Freshman Dana Bjorhus scored 19 and pulled down 10 rebounds, and sophomore Imari Simpson had 12 and 12. Each player also had three assists.
Head coach Janis Beal said as Bjorhus becomes more comfortable in her first season she will become a dependable scorer.
“We’re definitely going to look at her to score,” Beal said. “She’s got a great shot from the outside, but can attack the basket too.”
Simpson scored 10 of her 12 points from the foul line.
“She does a great job of getting rebounds and putting them back up, and she gets fouled in those opportunities,” Beal said.
Freshman Caitlin Clancy led the Trappers with 22 points in her first game as a Trapper. Clancy was out with an injury for Northwest’s first two games.
“She’s that kid that can attack the basket for us off the dribble,” Beal said.
Sophomore Leanne Winterholler went 4-of-8 from beyond the arc and scored 14 points to start what would be a strong shooting weekend for her.
“That’s kind of her role,” Beal said. “It was good to see her be on for those three straight days.”
Freshman Hatti Snyder added four points and eight rebounds off the bench.
Friday’s game against the fifth-ranked College of Southern Idaho was tantalizingly close, but a Northwest victory ended up just out of reach.
“You don’t like to lose but I really felt pleased with the effort the girls gave,” Beal said.
The Trappers lost 76-73, a result Beal said may have been different had her team hit the glass harder.
“The thing that hurt us the most was rebounding,” the coach said. “We didn’t do a very good job on the boards.”
Northwest was out-rebounded 44-35 and gave up 19 offensive rebounds to Southern Idaho, which the Trappers will see again today (Thursday).
“Those possessions, when it’s a three-point game, become very important,” Beal said.
Simpson led the Trappers with 17 points and four rebounds. The forward earned her points by shooting 7-of-8 from the free throw line.
Sophomore Andressa Augusto did a little bit of everything in the narrow loss. The player, known as “Deka” to her teammates, had 13 points, five rebounds, six assists, one block and one steal.
“She’s putting in the effort every single night,” Beal said of Northwest’s point guard. “She’s a big key to what we do.”
All of Winterholler’s 12 points came on 3-pointers, of which she was 4-for-9.
Snyder, who started to help Northwest match Southern Idaho’s size, scored five points and had another eight rebounds.
Bjorhus added six points and seven rebounds.
Southern Idaho’s Patrice Toston scored 30 against the Trappers. The left-handed Toston caused matchup problems for Trapper defenders.
“That’s one thing we’ll have to change when we play her this next time, is being more aware of that and forcing her to the right,” Beal said. “When we did force her to go right she struggled a little bit.”
Saturday’s weekend-finale against the Salt Lake Community College Bruins was a tale of two halves.
The Trappers led 29-22 at halftime, but a major discrepancy in free throw attempts between the teams and a Northwest offensive slump allowed the Bruins to come back and win 68-63.
Beal said the team’s offense “fell into a lull” and looked for an individual to create in isolation rather than run its motion system.
“We kind of became stagnant on the offensive end,” Beal said. “We just didn’t have a lot of movement.”
A 34-13 free throw attempt disadvantage didn’t help matters.
“It makes it difficult,” Beal said. “You lose by five, but yet they had that many more free throws.”
The coach said her team will have to do a better job of defensive positioning to avoid unnecessary fouls.
With three games against ranked opponents on this week’s slate, Beal said the Trappers will have to get to work in practice.
“We definitely need to emphasize rebounding, that was a huge key in the loss against College of Southern Idaho,” Beal said.
The Northwest women will be in Twin Falls, Idaho, from today (Thursday) until Saturday at the College of Southern Idaho Tournament.
A rematch against No. 5 Southern Idaho is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. tonight. It doesn’t get any easier, as the Trappers face No. 2 Central Arizona at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. Northwest’s weekend concludes with a matchup against No. 18 Midland College at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.