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Trappers Lose Twice In Region IX North Play
The Northwest College Trappers took a few steps forward and then a few steps back in action on the hardwood last week, according to their coach. NWC fell by an 86-75 margin at No. 6 Casper last week before being tripped up at home 69-54 by Miles on Saturday.
“I really thought we improved in a lot of areas in the game at Casper,” said Trapper head coach Janis Beal.
“We made some strides and, even though we lost, I thought we improved as a team.”
Specifically, the Trappers’ coach noted her team’s improvements shooting the ball, rebounding and handling Casper’s defense, which gave Northwest College fits when the two teams met in Powell earlier this year.
“Compared to the first game against them, we did a lot of things better,” Beal said.
Despite those efforts, Northwest trailed 48-39 at intermission. The two teams played the second half on relatively even terms.
Kennedy Allen led all scorers in the contest with 21 points for the Trappers. Layana de Souza added 19 points and Meagan Butler knocked down 14 points, including a pair of 3-point buckets.
Casper placed five players in double figures, led by Shelby Stewart’s 20 points. Rosalie Curti narrowly missed a triple-double for the T-Birds, ending the contest with 18 points, 11 rebounds and nine steals.
Momentum from the Trappers’ road trip to Casper appeared to carry over to Saturday’s game against Miles. Northwest knocked down better than 45 percent of its shots in the first half and carried a 35-28 lead into the locker room.
“The first half, we did a good job of shooting the ball,” Beal said. “We were rebounding it well, protecting the basketball. I felt really good about where we were going into the locker room. Unfortunately, we kind of stayed in there and never came out in the second half.”
Miles opened the second half with an 18-0 run to snatch the lead away from Northwest and open a double-digit cushion of their own. The Trappers did not hit a shot from the floor in the second half until 13:21 remained in the game.
“All the things we did well in Casper and in the first half, we didn’t do in the second half,” Beal said. “I said we took some steps forward at Casper. We took a few steps backwards today.”
After a strong first half shooting the ball, the Trappers struggled after intermission. The team connected on just eight of its 33 shot opportunities in the half, including an 0-for-9 performance from behind the arc and just 3-for-7 at the charity stripe.
Allen finished with 16 points for Northwest College, but was held mostly in check in the second half as Miles used a variety of double-team strategies to limit her to just four points after intermission. De Souza added eight points as the Trappers’ next-highest scorer.
The losses on the hardwood drop the Trapper women to 13-14 overall this season. The team is currently 4-9 in Region IX North play and in sixth place, half a game ahead of Central Wyoming.
Northwest travels to Western Wyoming this Wednesday. The Trappers are at home Saturday against Gillette before wrapping up the regular season next Tuesday with a home game against Dawson.
CASPER 86, NORTHWEST 75
Meagan Butler 14, Kennedy Allen 21, Layana de Souza 19, Taylor Ryan 9, Mariah Duran 6, Savannah Minder 2, Saige Hartman 2, Mikail Burningham 2.
MILES 69, NORTHWEST 54
Meagan Butler 7, Kennedy Allen 16, Layana de Souza 8, Taylor Ryan 6, Mariah Duran 7, Saige Hartman 4, Leslie Thronburg 6.