Your future, our focus
Back-up center Lucy Tuigamala studied the floor during the opening minutes of her Northwest College women’s basketball team’s game against Western Wyoming.
Checking out the Lady Mustangs’ defensive plan was a put-me-in-coach moment.
“When I was on the bench, I was looking at how they were covering our bigs,” Tuigmala said.
In her mind, the 6-foot-1, sturdily structured Tuigamala saw opportunity and when coach Cam Levett put her in the game she powered her way to 10 points and 5 rebounds, helping lift the Lady Trappers to an 83-68 victory last week at Cabre Gym.
“She smiled a little bit because she knew she was the most physical kid in the gym,” Levett said.
Except for a five-minute down period in the third quarter when the Mustangs rallied, the Trappers controlled the game.
Northwest led 42-32 at halftime and by as many as 16 points in the third quarter before matters got somewhat shaky. Western cut the lead to three with five minutes remaining, but the Trappers erupted all over again for a game-closing 18-6 run.
Forward Adela Smutna had a team-high 18 points, point guard Samiyah Worrell scored 14 points and passed off for six assists and forward Lily Henry had 13 points. Her three 3-pointers came at critical junctures.
“I felt like I was just taking my time and not rushing my shots,” Henry said. “I think we really just started sharing the ball more, making one more pass.
Worrell made two steals where she simply ripped the ball out of a player’s hands. They were clean, but such plays are often called fouls.
“Do it quick,” was her secret, Worrell said.
The solid win did not carry over. Last Saturday, the Trappers, now 10-10, fell to 18-2 Gillette, 83-65, on the road.
Smutna scored 16 points, Tess Henry 15, and Riley Aiono 10.
For three-quarters of their game against nationally No. 15 ranked Western Wyoming, the Northwest men were in a boxing-type slugfest contest. The Trappers trailed 74-72 with 10 minutes to go, but the Mustangs truly flexed, going on a 35-6 run to close the game.
Western hit 20 of 24 free throws and used superior height for layups.
“They were just killing us on the interior,” said Northwest guard Rambo Badyl, who had 15 points.
Western started doing everything well Northwest had contained.
“They started hitting threes and getting a lot of rebounds,” said forward Max Dehon, who had 9 points.
Fatigue may have been an issue late, said Trapper guard Kyle Brown, who had a game-high 32 points.
“We let the press get to us,” he said. “We probably were tired.”
The Trappers fell to 9-11 last Saturday when they met an equally-tough 16-2 Gillette team.
Brown was high scorer for Northwest in the 111-92 loss. Josh Petteno had 17 and Jerome Mabry and Alan Swenson were in double figures with 10 points each.
Earlier action
The Trappers defeated Eastern Wyoming 88-63 on Jan. 11.
Brown fired in 25 points, Badyyal came off the bench to collect 15, Dehon had 13, and Petteno added 10.
The diverse scoring pleased Collins one game after the Trappers were stymied by a Laramie Community College squad that creatively sealed off that type of shooting in a 70-68 loss.
Forwards Mabry (16 points) and Dehon (12) made critical plays defensively and rebounding.
Northwest had a chance at the end, in large part due to Jahquel Goss coming off the bench to score 13 points. He had a shot to tie it, but it didn’t fall.
The Lady Trappers dropped a 77-73 decision to Laramie and then lost big to Eastern Wyoming, 99-63.
Despite Smutna’s 25 points and Aiono’s 11, poor shooting doomed Northwest against Eastern. The Trappers shot 30.2 percent.
The Laramie game was a showcase for foul shooting. The visitors made 35 out of 44 attempts in the whistlerama and the Trappers 22 of 27.
Smutna, 18, Worrell, 17, and Tess Henry, 13, led Northwest scorers. At 76-73, Smutna took a 3-point attempt from the corner for a potential tie, but it missed.