Your future, our focus
Northwest College women’s basketball heads into the regional tournament after winning three of its last five regular season games.
With a 74-70 home victory on Feb. 10 over Miles Community College, the Lady Trappers had a two-game winning streak. The brief streak came to an end on Feb. 13 with a 72-50 road loss to Western Wyoming Community College. NWC then beat Central Wyoming College and finished at home with a loss to Sheridan College.
According to the Region IX Conference website at region9athletics.com, the Northwest team had four players score in double figures in the win over Miles. Jacey Shaw led the offense with a game-high 15 points. She made a pair of 3-pointers.
Kennedy Netto also made a pair of treys and added 14 points for Northwest. Chandler Rose scored 12 and Larissa Knight chipped in 11 points. Kealani Sagapolu scored 9 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds in the conference win.
“During the two-game win streak, I felt like the team did a better job competing for 40 minutes and maintaining intensity,” NWC coach Janis Beal said. “We have struggled during the season with consistency throughout the whole game. Also, the girls did a better job with defensive pressure and we caused some turnovers.”
Early offensive struggles put the Northwest College women in a deep hole against WWCC.
The visiting Lady Trappers fell behind by a double-digit margin at halftime and couldn’t make up the difference. Western Wyoming defended its homecourt in Rock Springs with the 22-point conference win.
“Western Wyoming came out strong in the first half and we didn’t match their physicality,” Beal said. “They had us back on our heels and we got down big early. They are a very good team and just like throughout the rest of the year, we can’t get down big and then expect to be able to make a comeback.”
NWC had two players in double figures. They were led by Sagapolu, who had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Her statistics included 10 offensive rebounds and 10 made free throws.
“Kealani has been solid for us all year averaging a double-double,” the coach said. “She does a great job getting position inside and we need to do a better job of getting her the ball in a position she can score. She also gets a lot of scoring opportunities with how well she rebounds.”
Shelby Nicholson hit a pair of 3-pointers and added a total of 11 on the day. Aubree Porter, Shaw, Kennedy Netto and Larissa Knight each made a 3-pointer in the road loss.
Avenging a 12-point loss at home back on Jan. 23, the Lady Trappers posted a 73-65 win on Feb. 17 at Riverton against Central Wyoming. Northwest got off to a good start and led 35-26 at halftime in the road win.
The Lady Trappers wrapped up their regular season Feb.13 with an 87-82 loss to Sheridan College. Sagapolu scored 30 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Shaw scored 15 and Hatch hit for 10 points.
Northwest College women (11-19 overall, 4-10 Region IX) open play in the regional tournament on March 1.
“The girls work hard in practice and I believe we can compete with anyone in the region despite our record,” Beal said. “Once tournament starts it is anyone’s game, so we’re just trying to get better every day and give ourselves a chance at regionals.”