Your future, our focus
Northwest College’s women’s basketball team opened 2017 with a 96-52 blowout win over Dawson Community College.
The victory avenged NWC’s early-December loss in Glendive, Mont. Dawson won that game on its home floor 71-69, beating NWC on a last-second shot. Saturday’s contest in Powell was NWC’s final non-conference game of the season.
The Trappers started conference play Wednesday night in Casper.
After a competitive first quarter, NWC broke open the game in the second when NWC coach Janis Beal sent a lineup that included only one starter out on the floor.
“There was a lot of energy coming off the bench,” said NWC forward Kira Marlow, the lone starter in the second quarter platoon. “We were trying to get them flustered.”
It worked. The Trappers held Dawson to only four points in the second quarter, while reeling off 21 of their own.
Marlow sparked the run with a couple of hoops to end the first quarter and start the second. And reserve point guard Jessica Lessard added a 3-pointer while upping the pressure, as NWC turned the contest into a rout.
“It was our defense that made that happen,” Lessard said.
But the accent to NWC’s blitz came on the offensive end late in the half, when the 5-foot-4 Lessard challenged Dawson’s 6-2 center Maria Zimdars in the paint. Lessard’s layup over Zimdars made it 45-19 at the half.
Dawson never threatened after that.
Starting point guard Dominica Gomes led a balanced NWC attack with 16 points. She also had six assists and tormented Dawson with four steals. Marlow had 14 points along with a team-high seven rebounds. Dani McManamen scored all 10 of her points at the line, where she went 10-12, and Julynne Silva scored 10, despite being hampered by early foul trouble.
Lessard led the reserve platoon with nine points, four assists and a pair of steals.
Beal was pleased with her team’s performance, especially as it was coming off the long Christmas break.
“Defense allowed us some easy points offensively,” Beal said. “That was something we really tried to work on.”