NWC News Desk

Northwest Trapper Women Off The Mark, Lose Two Straight

Cold shooting and foul trouble led to the first home loss of the season for the Northwest Trappers women’s basketball team, which also dropped back-to-back games for the first time since losing five straight between Nov. 8 and Nov. 16. 

The Trappers (15-8, 6-3 in conference) lost 66-55 to Dawson in Powell Saturday afternoon and are now tied with the Buccaneers (15-6, 6-3) for second place in the Region IX North division. The NWC women had a chance to take sole possession of first place on Wednesday, but lost 75-60 to first-place Western Wyoming (18-4, 5-1) in Rock Springs. 

Northwest and Dawson are each a game and a half back of Western Wyoming, and just a half-game ahead of Gillette. 

The Trappers shot 42.2 percent from the floor against Dawson, but didn’t hit their first bucket until nearly eight minutes into the first half.

The early-game drought led to a 9-0 deficit that grew to 10 when Dawson led 29-19 at halftime. Northwest came back midway through the second and even took a brief 39-38 lead before a 20-4 Dawson run put the Trappers away for good. 

“We dug ourselves too big of a hole to begin with, and then you use so much energy fighting back,” said NWC head coach Janis Beal. “It takes a lot to go on that run that we did and ... our intensity dropped.” 

Unable to use two of their most formidable post presences to their fullest potential didn’t help the Trappers’ cause. 

Five-nine sophomore Imari Simpson and 6-foot freshman Hatti Snyder each picked up three fouls in the first half, forcing Beal to play only one at a time in an attempt to conserve fouls. 

Dawson out-rebounded the Trappers 34-19. 

Northwest opened the second half on a 9-0 run to get itself back in the game. An Andressa Augusto breakaway layup tied it at 36-36 and a Leanne Winterholler 3-pointer on the Trappers’ next possession gave Northwest its first lead of the game. 

The Trappers would lead again momentarily at 41-40 before Dawson caught fire and went up 58-43. 

Freshman Sarah Nielsen came off the bench to score 10 points, but grabbed only two rebounds in 15 minutes of play. 

“Sarah came in and did some great things for us,” Beal said. 

Nielsen led the Trappers in scoring at the half. 

Leanne Winterholler led the Trappers with 14 points, 12 of which came by way of 3-pointers. The sophomore guard was 4-for-5 from beyond the arc. 

Augusto added nine points, two boards, two assists and two steals. It was the third straight game the sophomore point guard has come up short of double digit points, matching her season high. 

Beal said Augusto needs to be more assertive as a scorer. 

“We want her to be a scoring threat,” the coach said. “Sometimes she’s too unselfish and looks to pass first. 

“Tonight I think there were some open looks, even from 3, that she passed up on that we need her to shoot [because] we need her to score.” 

Simpson and Snyder each scored eight points. Simpson grabbed five rebounds and a steal while Snyder tracked down three boards, handed out two assists and got her hands on a steal. 

Northwest’s offensive struggles are at least in part due to the Bucs, who Beal credited with playing good defense. 

“They were aggressive and stayed honest, causing us to rush our shots a bit,” the coach said. 

But the women’s shooting woes also cost them Wednesday’s game in Rock Springs versus the Mustangs. 

Northwest shot a measly 31.3 percent from the field during the 15-point loss to Western Wyoming. 

As they did against Dawson, the Trappers came out of the gates slow against the Western zone and found themselves down 13 at the half. 

“When you don’t shoot a great percentage and you don’t give yourself second opportunities that deficit can increase quickly,” Beal said. 

Caitlin Clancy was the only Trapper to take more than three shots and shoot better than 40 percent. The freshman scored eight points to go with a rebound and steal.

Mandee Christensen (0-for-8), Winterholler (0-4) and Sierra Williams (0-for-2) combined to shoot 0-for-14 from the field and scored just six total points, all from free throws.

It didn’t help that the Trappers gave the Mustangs 23 foul shots in the first half, compared to just 12 in the second. 

Simpson was Northwest’s leading scorer with 16 points and was just one rebound shy of her third double-double of the season. 

Freshman Dana Bjorhus had 12 points, five rebounds, two steals and one assist. 

Augusto scored just four points but dished out five assists and had three rebounds. 

Nielsen added six points, six rebounds and an assist.

Beal said the recently problematic offense has nothing to do with system, rather it’s a product of many players slumping all at the same time. 

“We’ve been successful,” Beal said. “We gotta get back to doing it just a little better. I don’t think we need to go put in a whole new offense. I don’t think we need to change things dramatically. But we just got to do the little things better.” 

Northwest plays three road games in a row, starting with Gillette at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. The Trappers travel to play Miles City at 3 p.m. on Saturday and then at Casper on Feb. 8. 

“We better become road warriors in a hurry,” Beal said.to that.

 

Contact

Tim Carpenter
Tim.Carpenter@nwc.edu
Communications/Web & Social Media Specialist
307-754-6009