Northwest College

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Narrow Loss, Record Win For NWC Women

Trappers Need To ‘Get Back On Track Right Away’ In Tight Region IX Race

A six-point loss followed the biggest win in at least 15 years for the Northwest College women’s basketball team last week. 

The Trappers fell to 1-3 in Region IX (and 8-12 overall) with a 76-73 loss in Miles City, Montana, on Saturday, after beating a shorthanded Little Big Horn 114-19 in Powell on Jan. 13. 

Both Casper College and Gillette sit at 4-0 in Region IX, but beyond them, the conference seems to be up for grabs. 

Northwest, Sheridan and Western Wyoming have one win, while Central Wyoming and Miles City have two. 

“I don’t think anybody’s going to run away with it,” NWC head coach Janis Beal said of Region IX. “That middle of the pack, everyone else is 2-2. That’s what the girls have to know. Yeah, we’ve lost some, but there’s a sense of urgency to get back on track right away, before that gap starts to spread.” 

The Trappers will have a chance to take a one-game lead against Western when they host the Mustangs for a 5:30 p.m. game in Cabre Gym today (Thursday). Northwest stays in Powell for the rare two-game home-stand to take on Central at 3 p.m. on Saturday. 

Missed free throws and surprising trouble with man-to- man defense prevented the Trappers from sweeping the weekend and evening their Region IX record in Miles City. 

“There was just a few things that hurt us, free throws being the first one,” Beal said. “I feel like we did everything we needed to to put us in a position to win, but when you miss 14 free throws, that’s going to hurt you.” 

Northwest went 15-for-29 (51 percent) from the foul line, which wasn’t enough to supplement their 28-of-80 (35 percent) night from the field. 

Beal said free throws are a symptom of a deeper issue the Trappers will address. 

“I hope that it’s just a one-game thing, but we’ve had our struggles early in the year with free throws, too. And with that comes mental toughness,” Beal said. “We’ve got to be more mentally tough and say, ‘Hey, I want to shoot it,’ and have the confidence when we get up there. Sometimes I think the confidence is what we lack.” 

Monday’s practice was devoted to free throws and Beal plans on introducing more high-pressure situations to practice in order to breed confidence. 

“It’s something we’re still going to focus on in practice and try to create some stressful situations in practice where they got to make them, because that’s what happens in the games,” Beal said. 

The game was tied 33-33 at the half, but the Pioneers opened a six-point lead in the third quarter on the back of their long-range shooting.

Miles City was 9-for-26 from the 3-point line, compared to Northwest’s 2-of-17 mark. 

“One of our things was trying to limit their 3-point shots, and in that third quarter they got some of those so I think it kind of almost broke them free,” Beal said. 

Northwest played Miles to a 22- 22 tie in the fourth quarter. Miles City opened the game in a zone defense, but a hot start by NWC freshman Jacey Shaw, who scored 10 of her 13 points in the opening frame, forced the Pioneers to change to man defense early on. 

“Throughout the whole season, anybody that goes zone against us, that’s been our problem,” Beal said. “The girls did a real good job ... of getting certain shots in the zone. And they got those, then (Miles) pulled out and went man. Normally we do better against man so it was kind of surprising to struggle to score.”

Sophomore Kealani Sagapolu led all scorers with 23 points on 9-for-12 shooting performance against Miles. She added seven rebounds (four offensive) and four steals in 34 minutes. 

Shelby Nicholson recorded a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. It was the kind of offensive breakout Beal was hoping to see from her. 

“We talked to her about (how) we want her to be a little more of an offensive threat,” Beal said. “She had that mindset and I think that’s helped her kind of get going. It’s going to be huge for us to have one more key that can kind of be an offensive threat and attack for us.” 

Sophomore Chandler Rose had 17 points, seven rebounds and four steals. Rose is third on the Trappers with 4.6 rebounds per game.

“I think it’s just how hard she plays,” Beal said. “If there’s a loose ball she’s going to try to go get it. She does a great job of pursuing the basketball, and that’s where she gets a lot of her rebounds.” 

The Trappers’ 95-point win against the Rams was their biggest margin of victory since at least the 2001-02 season. It surpassed a 127-39 win (88 point difference) against Southeast Community College (Lincoln, Nebraska) on March 6, 2004. 

The game wasn’t without a major asterix, however.

The Rams dressed just five players, and suffered an injury midway through the first quarter, forcing them to play shorthanded for the remainder of the game. 

“That’s probably one of the hardest games to coach and play,” Beal said. “We had to try to get better for Miles City, so we tried to work on some of our defensive stuff, individual-type stuff. But to be honest it was hard to get better at that.” 

The Rams scored 10 points in the first quarter, three in the second, four in the third and two in the fourth. Celsea Pretty Paint scored 17 points for the Rams to lead all scorers. 

Seven Trappers scored in double figures, and three recorded double-doubles. 

Whitney Hatch had 16 points and 10 rebounds, Nicholson had 10 points and 13 rebounds and Rose scored 10 points to go with 10 rebounds. 

Aubree Porter also scored 16 points, Sagapolu scored 15 and Larissa Knight and Shaw each added 12. 

Lauren Hinkley and Kennedy Netto scored eight points apiece and Maddy Johnson added seven.