Northwest College

News Archive (2019-20 and older)

NWC Women Defeat All-Stars

When the Northwest College women’s basketball team took off for a month’s vacation, coach Janis Beal sent the players home with workout plans.

That kind of time off can be an eternity in mid-season and freshman Shelby Wardell made sure she shot and shot and shot jumpers during the hiatus.

It paid off last Saturday when she came off the bench to hit four 3-pointers in the Lady Trappers’ 86-59 victory over the Basketball Elite All-Stars at Cabre Gym.

“I shot a lot,” said Wardell, a 5-foot-6 freshman from Lovell.

Her teammates must have too, since the Trappers made 14-of-23 3-pointers for 60.9 percent.

It was raining threes on Basketball Elite, with sophomore Charri McArthur going 4-for-4, freshman Tayla Sayer shooting 2-for-2 from long-range and 6-4 center Julynne da Silva Sa going 2-for-3 from beyond the arc.

“Sixty-one percent from three, that’s a good [statistic] too,” Beal said.

Besides the 27-point margin, some other good numbers for the Trappers were 20 assists and 16 steals, as well as every player in uniform getting at least 11 minutes on the court

The court itself was looking pretty spiffy. Over the break it was repainted and redecorated. The new look has gray coloring, a National Junior College Athletic Association logo, the word “Northwest” at both ends of the court and a Trapper logo on the floor.

This was the court’s unplanned debut after the women had a game cancelled in December and hastily scheduled this contest as a replacement.

The game was probably more beneficial in its timing as the Lady Trappers were scheduled to begin Region IX play Wednesday night and this allowed them to work out any rust.

Beal called that “a blessing in disguise.”

Northwest, now 12-4, broke fast and led 25-12 after the first quarter and 43-23 by halftime.

The opposition, basically consisting of former Northwest players, made the Lady Trappers work, but any time the all-stars closed Northwest made a spurt.

Wardell was the top scorer with 14 points. Kira Marlow scored 13 and McArthur and guard Tala Aumua-Tuisavura had 12 each.

“All of our threes got us momentum,” Aumua-Tuisvaura said. “I think we need to be more consistent on defense though.”

Kati Webb, 16, and Leanne Winterholler, 13, led the all-stars in scoring.

Although she did not hit double figures in points, Trapper Dani McManamen had her fingerprints all over the box score with 8 points on 4-for-4 shooting, four assists, three steals and three rebounds.

“I’m glad we had this game,” McManamen said. “It helped us get back into it.”