Your future, our focus
Season Record Still Even At 4-4
A long road trip into Colorado yielded a weekend split for the Northwest College women’s basketball team against two vastly different opponents.
The Lady Trappers outlasted Air Force Prep 73-65 Friday afternoon and fell to an All Star team of Air Force personnel called the Colorado Ballers 72-66 Saturday afternoon.
The break-even weekend leaves Coach Cam Levett’s Trappers at 4-4 for the season.
There were unusual — even surreal — circumstances to the two-game set.
For the 3 p.m. Friday opener, the NWC team arrived to an empty gymnasium on the grounds of the Air Force Academy.
“We found what we thought was the right gym,” said Levett. “It was a small gym. There was no one there. No music. No crowd, except for a few family members of some of our players. We went through warm-ups in an absolutely quiet gym.”
“About five minutes before tipoff, there were maybe five of their players on the floor, and then just before the National Anthem, their cadets came in,” Levett said. “About 250 cadets in khaki pants and crisp uniform tops. They looked very sharp, and they packed the gym.”
Because it was not a game against a junior college opponent, there were none of the standard scoring and statistical records kept. Even the scoreboard and the official scorer’s book differed. The scoreboard had the final 70- 65, but the official score book had it 73-65 for Northwest.
“We didn’t have stats to go by, and that makes it real tough,” said Levett.
He will attempt to construct game statistics after viewing film of the contest.
The game itself with Air Force Prep was back and forth.
The Trappers jumped on the prep schoolers early, but needed a half-court buzzer-beater by Samiyah Worrell to take a 34-33 halftime lead.
“It was awesome,” Levett enthused of Worrell’s bomb.
Worrell, who led the Trapper women with 17 points, hails from nearby Fountain High School in the Colorado Springs area.
Adela Smutna and Tess Henry each contributed 12 points to the Trappers’ winning total.
“They [Air Force Prep] had a real good point guard who scored 28 points,” Levett said. “Some of them will probably play for their Division 1 team some day. Somehow, we found a way to win that game.”
The Saturday noon match-up in the same gym presented a Colorado Ballers opponent with plenty of credentials from the past. The Ballers are made up of some former Division 1 college players out of eligibility. All are Air Force personnel.
“They were big and aggressive. They blocked a lot of shots,” Levett said.
The Saturday tilt was also missing junior college scoring and official stat sheets. The final score of 72-66 in the Ballers’ favor was “another guess,” Levett said.
“I had to take a cellphone picture of the scorebook,” he added.
“We made it close,” the Trapper coach said. “Face it, we were playing grown women. There was some value to it in that we realized we’ve got to bring that physicality to every game.”
The Northwest women face a stiff test this weekend when they play Casper College and Sheridan College in a Thanksgiving weekend tournament at Sheridan. The Lady Trappers face Casper at noon on Friday and Sheridan College at 5 p.m. Saturday.