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Northwest Drops Region IX Game Saturday
The Northwest College Trapper women’s basketball team staged one big comeback against Casper College on Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, the team needed two in a 64-52 loss to the Thunderbirds in Region IX North basketball action.
It was a frigid day both outside and inside the gymnasium early in Saturday’s game. Northwest and Casper combined to score just six points in the first five minutes of action as both teams struggled to solve the mystery of their opponent’s defense and find the range for the hoop.
Unfortunately for Trapper fans, it was the Thunderbirds who solved that mystery first. Over the course of the next five minutes, Casper went on a 13-2 run to build a 17-4 lead midway through the first half. As abruptly as the Trappers saw themselves slide behind, the team turned the tables on Casper.
The Trappers abruptly reversed their fortunes, outscoring Casper by a 17-4 count, tying the contest at 21-21 on Savannah Minder’s 3-point bucket with 4:30 remaining in the first half. Leslie Thronburg’s bucket a minute later gave the Trappers their first lead of the game at 23- 22, but it was short-lived.
Casper scored nine of the final 11 points in the first half to carry a 31-25 advantage into halftime. That six point spread was as close as the game would get over the final 20 minutes.
The Thunderbirds pushed their lead out to double digits early in the second half. Northwest fought back to cut the gap to 48-40 at the midway point of the second half, only to watch as Casper answered with seven of the next nine points to push its lead to 55-42.
Back-to-back baskets by the Trappers momentarily returned the gap to single digits at 55-46, but that was as strong a challenge as Northwest was able to muster.
Minder finished with 14 points to lead all scorers in the game. The Trappers also picked up 13 points from Andressa Augusto. Imari Simpson narrowly missed joining the pair in double figures with nine points.
As a team, Northwest struggled to 36.1 percent shooting from the floor as the team made just 22 of its 61 shot attempts from the floor. Northwest was also an uncharacteristic 3-for- 12 at the charity stripe in the contest.
Defensively, the Trappers held Casper to just 37.1 percent shooting and 2-for-11 from behind the 3-point arc. The Trappers also won the turnover battle by a 22-19 final count, but came up short in the rebounding department, where Casper College enjoyed a significant 44-31 edge.
The loss drops Northwest College to a 3-2 record in Region IX North play and 10-9 overall this season. The Trapper women, currently tied for fourth in the regional standings with Gillette College, host Miles Community College, 1-2 in regional play and 10-6 overall, in a 5:30 p.m. game on Wednesday. A men’s game between the two schools will follow.