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Women Lose Without Starting Point Guard
The Trappers were at a huge disadvantage to start, and then things got much worse.
With offensive leader Andressa Augusto sidelined with an undisclosed injury the Northwest College women’s basketball team was no match for Casper in a 73- 58 road loss on Saturday.
The game fell out of Northwest’s reach early in the second half when the Thunderbirds (16-9, 8-4 in Region IX North) extended their 40-27 halftime lead to 47-29 in a matter of minutes. The Trappers (16-10, 7-5) spent most of the second half struggling to keep the deficit less than 20.
The loss dropped Northwest to fifth-place in the division and a full game back of third-place Casper. The Trappers are two games out of first, which is currently occupied by both Western Wyoming and Dawson.
Augusto is out with an undisclosed injury and, depending on the results of Friday’s MRI, may be out for the season. (See related story.)
Augusto’s absence left the Trappers’ offense without its leader, and it showed.
Head coach Janis Beal said the entire team struggled.
“Everybody had something that they could have done a little better,” she said.
Northwest committed 20 turnovers to Casper’s 13, and hit only 34 percent of its field goals, including a game-killing 2-of-12 from 3-point range.
Sophomore Sierra Williams, who played 12 minutes at point guard, hit both of the Trappers’ threes while three other Trappers went 0-for-10.
Sophomore Leanne Winterholler was 1-for-8 from the field and 0-for-6 from beyond the arc.
The Trappers were also outworked on the boards, where Casper held a 40-33 overall advantage.
“We knew going into it rebounding was going to be huge and we didn’t take care of business,” Beal said.
The coach also noted Casper is playing much better down low than when the teams met Jan. 8 in Powell (a 58-57 Trapper win).
“They’re attacking the boards better than they were early in the year,” Beal said. “And they’re pressuring more defensively.”
A seven-rebound deficit wouldn’t be so bad, but the Trappers lost the offensive rebounding battle 16-8.
“That’s giving them 16 more opportunities to score, and they took advantage of that,” Beal said.
That Northwest offense couldn’t take advantage of much. The Trappers were out of sync, which Beal blames on the unplanned lineup changes and Casper’s defense.
The Trappers weren’t patient on offense and too often settled for less-than-ideal scoring opportunities, Beal said.
“We were rushing shots and not staying in (the offense), so give Casper credit for their defense,” Beal said.
Casper had 11 steals and nine blocks, compared to just five and two for Northwest.
Sophomore Imari Simpson, by far Northwest’s most consistent player, led the team with 15 points on 7-for-12 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. She also contributed an assist and block.
Freshman Dana Bjorhus, who can expect to shoulder more of the offensive load with Augusto on the bench, scored 14 points and had a game-high eight rebounds. Bjorhus was 8-of-8 from the foul line.
Mandee Christensen started in place of Augusto and scored four points and five rebounds along with two assists and four turnovers.
Winterholler scored only two points but had a team-high four assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Hatti Snyder added eight points and five rebounds to complement Simpson in the post. Freshman Caitlin Clancy and Williams each had six points apiece.
The one area the NWC offense excelled was the free throw line. The Trappers, who benefited from six more free throw attempts and makes than Casper, were 20-for-26 (76.9 percent) but it wasn’t enough to ever bring them back into contention.
“We were just trying to use their aggressiveness on defense against them,” Beal said. “If they’re being overly aggressive more than likely a foul is going to be called.”
Casper was 14-of-20 from the foul line.
The T-Birds were led by Kendyl Nunn’s 19 pounts, five assists, three steals, two rebounds and two blocks.
Kassidy Scott added 15 points, three rebounds, three assists and a steal and Sakayla Davenport scored 11 points to go with five boards, two assists and a steal.
Cheyanne Balster grabbed eight rebounds to share the game-high with Bjorhus.
Despite the one-sided loss, Northwest remains within striking distance of the division lead, but will likely need to win its final four games to have a shot.
The Trappers played Sheridan (18-9, 8-5), in Powell Wednesday night (score can be found at www.facebook.com/powelltribune) in a contest for fourth place.
Northwest then heads to Riverton to take on Central Wyoming for a 3 p.m. game on Saturday.