Your future, our focus
Playing Wednesday against the Central Wyoming Rustlers in Riverton, NWC coach Cam Levett and his Trapper women parlayed sharpshooting from behind the arc into a narrow victory, 58-56.
It was, Levett said, a “rock fight” but thankfully “we threw the last rock.”
Adela Smutna hit two free throws late to give Northwest College the lead; the freshman from the Czech Republic led scoring with 22 points (including going a perfect 10-for-10 from the line) and notched a double-double with 12 rebounds.
Lily Henry grabbed 10 rebounds and Powell’s Aubrie Stenerson “had great minutes off the bench guarding Central’s leading scorer,” Levett said.
It was, by the coach’s assessment, “A good game for us defensively. Their zone slowed us down offensively, but of course a win is a win.”
The Trappers (10-11 overall) helped their cause on the glass, pulling down 45 rebounds to the Rustlers’ 36.
Saturday night in the confines of Cabre Gym, it was a different matter when the Thunderbirds of Casper College came to call.
The tall, deep and talented T-Birds were up early on the way to winning 81-56 against the out-gunned Trappers.
Natalie Otkhmezuri, a resident of Tbilisi in the nation of Georgia, led all scorers with 23 points. Two other T-Birds landed in double digits in the points column, too.
Smutna and Samiyah Worrell led the Trappers with 15 points each and Lily Henry scored nine, but no other player for Northwest netted more than four.
“We came out ready to play,” said Levett, and “went up 5-0 maybe” from the jump, “but they started hitting some shots” and the Trappers did not take it well. “We hang our heads a little” when opponents make a run, he said.
The T-Birds blistered the string with 11 threes … and that was before halftime. The Trappers turned the faucet down from a torrent to a more manageable flow, allowing five 3-pointers for Casper the second half.
The T-Birds cast up 16 more shots than the Trappers, including 35 attempts from 3-point range.
“I was disappointed in our rebounding,” said Levett. “We had 27 and they had 43. I told them after the game, ‘If you’re going to have off nights shooting the basketball, we should get more offensive rebounds’” off the misses.
“Only seven (offensive boards) was disappointing,” the coach said.
On the upside, Levett was happy to watch his Trappers “attack the basket well” and “get to the line” as a result.
Next up on the radar screen is what Levett termed a “brutal” road trip to Eastern Wyoming in Torrington Saturday at 2 p.m. That comes on the heels of Wednesday night’s game at Laramie County in Cheyenne.
He explained it is cheaper for the Trappers to just stay on the road and not return to Powell between the Cheyenne and Torrington stops.
Central Wyoming — Latu 27, Ramos 13, Cotter 8, Sparks 4, Flanagan 4.
Northwest College — Smutna 15, Worrell 15, L. Henry 9, Turner 4, Broussard 4, Aiono 4, T. Henry 2, Wright 2, Martinez 1.