Your future, our focus
The Northwest College basketball teams finished out their seasons late last month.
The women’s team ended the regular season with a 61-52 road win over Western Wyoming (3-26, 0-18) before falling in the Region IX tournament play-in game against Gillette.
Adela Smutna led the Trappers with 15 points and nine rebounds. She shot 3-for-6 from 3-point range.
After taking a 31-29 lead into halftime the Lady Trappers held on, pushing their lead to 12 in the third quarter.
NWC out-rebounded Western 46-37 and held the Mustangs to 25% shooting.
The Trappers fell 70-58 to Gillette College (28-5, 12-3) in the Region IX playoffs.
Samiyah Worrell led the team with 16 points and four assists, while Tess Henry chipped in 10 points.
Northwest threatened to upset the No. 21 Pronghorns early, playing to a 20-all tie after the first and took a two-point lead into halftime. But in the fourth Gillette started to pull away, shooting 60% from beyond the arc and 46% overall in the final frame.
The Lady Trappers bench outscored Gillette 21-4.
NWC finished its season with a much improved 12-19 (3-11) record, winning eight more games than the previous year. Smutna made the All-Region IX team and Raquel Turner was named to the all-defensive team.
The Northwest men’s basketball team finished the season on a 13-game losing streak, unable to win over the last month and a half of play.
NWC played Western Wyoming in its final two contests of the season on the road. In its final regular season game the Trappers lost 99-58.
Kyle Brown led Northwest with 17 points while Josh Petteno had 16 points and three assists in the contest.
After falling behind early the Trappers could not claw back, shooting an ice cold 26% from 3-point range. They also committed 17 turnovers to the Mustang’s nine.
NWC fell 84-57 to Western (30-4, 13-2) in the Region IX tournament play-in game.
Brown had 16 points and five assists and Max Dehon chipped in 14 points.
Although NWC kept the Mustangs from getting hot from deep, the Trappers were plagued by their own shooting woes, only making 17% from three and 29% from the field. Northwest did win the turnover battle, committing seven fewer than Western.
Northwest finished the season with a 9-22 (1-13) record. Brown led Region IX and was sixth in the nation averaging 25.2 points per game while hauling down four rebounds per game. He has received an NCAA D-I offer to play at Maryland Eastern Shore and has been scouted by a few Big Sky Conference schools.