Your future, our focus
Less than seven minutes into Saturday afternoon’s game against Basketball Elite, Northwest College women’s coach Janis Beal turned to assistant coach Steve Coleman sitting beside her on the bench and asked, “Does Kira have 15 of our 16 points?”
Kira Marlow did, but the observation was obsolete a minute later when Marlow scored again.
The freshman forward put on a Michael Jordan-type show in the first quarter of the Lady Trappers’ 100-54 thumping of the local club team and finished with 26 points.
“I didn’t know what was happening,” Marlow said after the game at Cabre Gym that sent the Trappers off on a long semester break until their next game Jan. 7.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a streak like that.”
Few players have. But as Northwest completed a six-game compressed rush of games to raise the season record to 8-7, Marlow has become the team’s most consistent scorer.
Between Dec. 1 and Dec. 7 the Lady Trappers crammed in five games, all on the road. They lost to Western Nebraska 93-59, clobbered Yellowstone Christian 66-27, topped Fort Carson 73-62, fell to Dawson Community College 71-69, and beat Yellowstone Christian again 64-41. This included frequent driving miles to Scottsbluff, Neb., Gillette for two games, Glendive, Mont., and Billings, Mont.
Marlow, of Shelley, Idaho, had a 22-point night versus Western Nebraska, 17 against Yellowstone Christian and 15 against Dawson.
Around Thanksgiving, Marlow was in a slump and Beal suggested she take a few-day break and relax. Since then Marlow has developed a special relationship with the month of December.
“She told me to get away from it all,” Marlow said. “It was all mental.”
Marlow, who calls “Space Jam” starring Jordan her favorite movie, spun for fancy lay-ups and hit a couple of three-pointers Saturday for cartoon-like success. She scored 18 of the Lady Trappers’ first 19 points in 7 minutes, 11 seconds before coming out of the game. She pulled on her jersey, signaling to Beal she needed a break.
“I was really tired,” Marlow said.
Not to worry. After that splashy quarter the rest of Northwest’s players took over. All 12 players scored. Behind Marlow’s total came Jessica Lessard with 14 points, Maddy Johnson with 11 points and Jessica Lohrenz with 10. The 5-foot-11 Lohrenz also had a game-high eight rebounds.
“Today was a good win,” said Lessard, who also had a 17-point highlight game against Fort Carson.
“I think we’re starting to figure things out. Everybody is starting to play good as a whole team. It’s a battle in practice.”
The battle is to determine who gets to start amongst many roughly equally talented players.
Lohrenz has a knack of grabbing loose-ball rebounds that bounce away from the crowd under the basket.
“That’s my biggest role on the team,” she said.
Beal said rebounding does distinguish Lorenz’s game, but she wouldn’t mind her shooting more often either.
“She doesn’t look to shoot in there,” Beal said. “But I thought she did a great job on the boards.”
Despite the long layoff until January, which sounds even longer because the Lady Trappers do not play again until next year, Beal thinks some rest will be helpful after the recent packed-together schedule.
But not too much. Beal issued player workout plans to take home that include weight lifting, conditioning and shooting during the Christmas vacation.
“No goofing off,” Lessard said.
“Oh no, no, no,” Lohrenz said while conceding, “it is a long Christmas break.”
One thing that will motivate Northwest is the first opponent upon the resumption of the schedule. That will be Dawson. The Lady Trappers lost 71-69 on Dec. 6 and they feel they should have won.
A month between meetings is an eternity, but the Lady Trappers have long memories.
“We’ll remember,” center Dallas Petties said.
(Lew Freedman can be reached at lew@codyenterprise.com.)