Northwest College

News Archive (2019-20 and older)

Trapper Women Split Home Openers

Drop OT Thriller To Bismarck

It may have come four points too late for a two-game sweep, but things began to click for the Northwest College women’s basketball team during its home-opening weekend. 

The Trappers (2-4) beat Eastern Wyoming 85-66 behind a big third quarter to even their homestand following Friday’s 99-95 overtime loss to Bismarck State. 

“I felt like, Saturday, things started coming together,” said NWC head coach Janis Beal. “We did some different things offensively this week and I think the girls were starting to understand and grasp (the offense).” 

The higher-functioning offense resulted in open looks for Northwest, which shot 55.6 percent from the floor — and 50 percent (6-for-12) from three — against the Lancers. 

“The girls were getting the ball into a place that was easier for them to score,” Beal said. 

It was a big turnaround from the Trappers’ 1-of-15 effort from beyond the arc against Bismarck, which beat Northwest 99-72 on Nov. 6 in Bismarck, North Dakota. 

Northwest rallied late to tie the game, but the offense stalled in the beginning of the extra period, in which the Trappers were outscored 16-12. 

“There’s definitely things we can learn from it,” Beal said. “There was a huge difference from when we played Bismarck a week ago. It just showed some maturity.” 

Five Trappers scored in double figures against the Lancers (2-4). 

Sophomore Chandler Rose tied for the team-high with 14 points, and was Northwest’s top rebounder with nine boards. 

Sophomore Kealani Sagapolu had 14 points and six rebounds, sophomore Whitney Hatch had 11 points and eight boards, freshman Maddy Johnson had 11 points and sophomore Aubree Porter had 10. 

Freshmen Kennedy Netto and Jacey Shaw each scored nine points while sophomore Shelby Nicholson had seven. 

Hatch was key in a 33-22 third quarter that helped the Trappers pull away.

“She made some hustle plays that were huge in getting momentum in helping us make a run,” Beal said. 

Northwest tightened its defense after managing only a five-point lead at halftime. 

“We did make a few adjustments at halftime, defensively changed a few things,” Beal said. “They were getting too many drives into the middle. (We) tried to force them to shoot the three.” 

The Lancers connected on a few late 3-pointers, and were 7-of-18 in the game, but were held to just 38.2 percent shooting overall. 

The Trappers won the rebounding battle in both games. They edged Bismarck 58-54 and won big against Eastern 45-27. 

“We have definitely put an emphasis on it,” Beal said. “With Bismarck, we still probably gave them too many offensive rebounds (18).” 

Northwest held Eastern to just five offensive boards. 

“That was one of our huge goals, to keep them under 10 offensive rebounds and limit their (second) chances,” Beal said. 

The Trappers twice trailed by two points with less than 40 seconds remaining in regulation against Bismarck. 

Northwest was down 81-79 with 38 seconds left and 83-81 with 14 seconds to go. 

Nicholson made a key steal off a Mystics inbounds play, and both Sagapolu and Rose hit last-second layups to extend the game. 

“At the time, when we were down, we did put a little bit of a soft press on them,” Beal said. “The hustle plays is what I think created that run at the end to tie it and push it into overtime.” 

Rose led the Trappers with 21 points and tied for second on the team with nine rebounds.

Shaw scored 12 points, grabbed nine rebounds and led the Trappers with eight assists. 

“Shaw is only a couple assists and one rebound short of a triple-double,” Beal said of Shaw, who is running the point while Larissa Knight is out. “She’s one of those (players) who can do either or, but we’d like to move her over to the two eventually.” 

Hatch again helped spark the Trappers’ run. She finished with 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting. 

“She came in and scored right away in a time we were struggling to score,” Beal said. 

In the extra frame, Beal chose to start much of her bench unit and save her starters, who were in foul trouble, for the final push. 

Shaw and Porter fouled out while Rose finished with four personal fouls. 

“Looking back, maybe that wasn’t the best route to go,” Beal said. “(Bismarck) got a couple easy ones, then you’re having to fight back. I thought our girls did a good job, we were aggressive, we just didn’t convert on some the free throws, which hurt us.” 

Northwest was 16-of-24 from the line. Northwest shot just 30.2 percent from the field in the first half but was 23-for-49 (46.9 percent) in the second. 

After giving up 12 3-pointers in last week’s 27-point loss at Bismarck, the Trappers were determined to deter the Mystic’s long-range attack. Bismarck again hit 12 threes, but Northwest’s defensive efforts forced the Mystics to rely more heavily on their inside game. 

“With them, especially when that three is what their game is focused on, we were willing to give up some of those easy shots inside,” Beal said. 

Keisha Engelhardt led the Mystics with 40 points and 14 rebounds. She was the second player to score 40 against the Trappers this season. 

The Trappers host Rocky Mountain JV today (Tuesday) at 5:30 p.m., and then Gillette and Snow College during this weekend’s Big Horn Federal Shootout. 

Northwest takes on Gillette at 5 p.m. on Friday and Snow at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Beal is doubtful Knight (back injury) will make her return this weekend, but the transfer sophomore from Western Wyoming will be evaluated the middle of this week.