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Northwest Advances To Semifinals
The Northwest College women’s basketball team advanced to the semifinals of the Region IX tournament in Scottsbluff, Neb., on Tuesday afternoon with a stunning 64-59 upset of top-seeded Sheridan College. The Trappers also flexed their defensive might in the opening round with a 65-56 victory over Otero.
Defense was the key on Tuesday afternoon as the Trappers avenged regular-season losses of 18 and 11 points at the hands of the Sheridan College Generals. After allowing the Generals to race to scores in the high 80s during both conference meetings, Northwest locked down defensively. The Trappers held Sheridan to just 36.4 percent shooting in the contest.
That wasn’t the way things appeared to be going early on. Sheridan burst out of the gate to build a 14-5 lead just four and a half minutes into the contest and appeared to be threatening to run away with matters early, but the Trappers regrouped.
After an early time out, Northwest methodically spent the next four minutes embarking on a 12-2 run, taking their first lead with 11:10 to go in the first half. Sheridan answered with seven consecutive points, but once again could not shake free from the Trappers.
Northwest drew to within two points as the first half clock ticked below five minutes remaining. The Trappers scored 10 of the final 14 points before intermission to carry a 34-30 lead into the half.
That hot streak continued into the second half. The Trappers returned from the halftime locker room to promptly score eight of the second half’s first 10 points, opening a brief double-digit lead at 42-32.
The Trappers’ lead bounced between five and 10 points for much of the remainder of the half until Sheridan made a late push, cutting the gap to 57-56 with three minutes to play, but were never able to seize the lead away from Northwest.
The Trappers held Sheridan scoreless for much of the remaining final minutes, building their lead back to 63-56 before the Generals tickled the twin with a 3-point bucket with 7.5 seconds remaining. Northwest was able to inbound the ball against pressure from the Sheridan defense and added a free throw with five seconds remaining to give the game its final margin.
Kennedy Allen had 17 points to lead the Trappers. It was a fitting performance for Allen, who just prior to the start of the Region IX tournament was named an all-conference performer for the Trappers this season.
Three other Trappers also found their way into double figures as Northwest’s win was truly a team effort. Savannah Minder added 11 points. Andressa Augusto and Leslie Thronburg knocked down 10 points apiece.
Ball security was another key component of the Trappers’ victory. Northwest turned the basketball over just 11 times in the contest. The Trappers forced Sheridan to cough up 18 turnovers. Minder was responsible for four steals.
Tuesday’s semifinal win followed the same formula as Monday’s opening-round victory over Otero. As with Sheridan, the Trappers carried a slim lead into the halftime locker room at 33-30. The Trappers pressed that lead out to eight points with 8:21 remaining in the game, but watched as the Rattlers fought back to within four points, 58-54, with 3:53 to go.
For the next two and a half minutes, the game was up for grabs, but neither team seemed willing to reach for it. The Trappers failed to convert on multiple possessions. Otero, meanwhile, misfired on the front end of three trips to the free throw line, leaving their side of the scoreboard unchanged as well until Northwest finally broke the drought with a basket in the lane with 1:26 to go.
The Trappers would go on to add five free throws over the final 86 seconds against a single Otero bucket to secure the opening-round tournament victory.
The Trappers, now 17-15 this season, were scheduled to face Gillette College in a 5 p.m. Wednesday game that took place after this issue of the paper went to press. Western Nebraska and McCook Community College were scheduled to face off in the day’s other semifinal contest. The Trappers and Pronghorn split their regular-season games with Northwest winning by 17 points at home, but falling by 13 on the road at Gillette.