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Trapper Women Send Sophomores Out With 62-43 Victory Tuesday
As the closing seconds ticked away on a 62-43 Trapper victory over Dawson Community College on Tuesday night, the six sophomore members of the Northwest College women’s basketball team locked hands on the bench and beamed smiles.
Moments after the final buzzer, many of those smiles transformed into tearful hugs as the realization dawned that they had just played their final game in Cabre Gymnasium. Fortunately, that final game also proved to be a victory lap.
The Trappers used a stellar defensive performance and a methodical approach on the offensive end to close the regular season on a high note.
Northwest used a late first half flurry to grab a 32-22 lead at half-time, then held Dawson to single-digit scoring in the second half until 6:03 remained.
By that point, the Trappers’ victory looked to be in the bag.
Mariah Duran and Layana de Souza closed out their Trapper home careers by connecting for 16 points to pace the team in scoring. Kennedy Allen assured fans that the future is still bright on Ken Rochlitz Court by adding 14 points.
“Any time you can take your sophomores out one at a time and get them some recognition, that’s a successful game,” Northwest College head women’s coach Janis Beal said of the team’s sophomore night victory. “It’s always nice to be able to do that. In the bigger picture, it was good for us as a team to win and get some momentum to carry into the tournament.”
That momentum was fueled in part by a defense that produced 13 steals and forced Dawson into 24 turnovers. The Trappers also owned a 33-26 advantage rebounding.
“I thought one of the things we did very well was our rebounding,” said Beal. “We only gave up five offensive rebounds, so a lot of the night we were giving them one shot and then the ball was going the other way.”
The win came on the heels of 71-65 home loss to Gillette over the weekend. The Trappers stayed close throughout the game, but were ultimately hurt by the absence of Allen from their lineup. The 6-1 post sat out the game for precautionary reasons after suffering a concussion from an elbow to the head.
“That really limited us in the post,” said Beal. “I thought we played well and the team played hard, but we were a player down and missing size and that really hurt us, especially since Gillette has two good post players.”
In Allen’s absence, Duran picked up the scoring burden with 23 points for the Trappers. De Souza added 17 points and eight rebounds, but Northwest struggled overall, hitting less than 33 percent of its shots.
Shooting woes also described the Trappers’ difficulty in a 99-52 loss at Western Wyoming. Northwest was also out-rebounded 59-34 in that contest as the team again played a player short as yet another player — this time Leslie Thronburg — missed the game with a possible concussion.
“We’re not quite sure what happened to Leslie,” Beal said. “We just know one moment she’s suddenly feeling a little foggy and having trouble remembering things, which is never a good thing.”
Thronburg, like Allen, has since been back on the floor for the Trappers, who expect to be at full strength when the Region IX women’s tournament opens next week in Casper.
Northwest takes a 14-16 regular season record into the postseason. The Trappers were 5-11 in Region IX North play and finished seventh in the division. The team opens tournament play at 5 p.m., March 9, but will not know its opponent until Friday.
“Northeastern and McCook are playing a rescheduled game and the outcome of that contest determines who we play,” said Beal.
Should Northeastern win that game, then they would face the Trappers as the No. 2 seed out of Region IX South. A Northeastern loss on Friday night would put the Trappers on the floor against Western Nebraska in the opening round.