Your future, our focus
The Northwest College women took down Western Wyoming 83-68 for their first conference win last week before falling to Gillette College on Saturday, 83-65.
Facing Western Wyoming on Jan. 15, coach Cam Levett’s basketball team broke out of a 20-all tie to build a 12-point lead with 2:27 left in the first half, keyed by a Tess Henry 3-pointer. The Trappers led by 10 at halftime, 42-32.
The situation became scary in the third when the Mustangs drew within three, 65-62. But not to worry.
Enter Trapper Adela Smutna with a smooth-as-glass three in answer and another key bucket in the paint from Lucy Tuigamala, who scored 10 points in all. NWC fans could finally exhale, as the team enjoyed a more comfortable eight-point lead, 70-62.
That’s when the worm turned in their favor once and for all. NWC was not challenged again in the 83-68 win.
Smutna led Trapper scoring with 18 points to which Samiyah Worrell and Lily Henry added 14 and 13, respectively. Powell’s Aubrie Stenerson had five points.
Coach Levett said that Tuigamala — who was a force inside all night — played “fantastic” against a good Western post player.
For her part, Tuigamala said the win “was fun for us,” in contrast to being ambushed in their previous outing by Eastern Wyoming.
“It was one of my better games,” she said with a grin.
The Trappers out-rebounded the Mustangs 37-23 and “we turned them over 22 times,” added Levett.
Northwest enjoyed 10 makes from behind the 3-point line, while Western made 13, of which Tori Ross accounted for six on 11 attempts. The 5-foot, 4-inch freshman damaged the Trappers the most by far, with 25 points. No other player scored more than eight for Western.
Levett said his defense “played hard” but did not always “play smart.”
“We’ve got to learn how to play with the lead,” he said, adding, “We gave their post some easy layups.”
Levett lamented one play in particular, when a Mustang took the ball right down the middle and straight to the hoop for an uncontested layup.
“Nobody stopped the ball,” he said, with a gesture of confusion. “You learned that in middle school.”
Levett’s Trappers, he said, “finished with contact” well, meaning they did a good job making shots despite being banged around by defenders.
“It was a great crowd,” he added. “We’re glad to get a win for them.”
As for Saturday’s 83-65 loss to the Pronghorns, “Gillette is very talented,” said Levett. “We played hard but had a scoring drought in the second quarter that we couldn’t come back from.”
NWC pulled within seven points in the fourth quarter, but couldn’t get any closer. Smutna again led the Trappers with 16 points.
“Tess Henry had a great ball game scoring 15 points on 3-of-5 shooting from three” and “also had three big offense rebounds and put-backs,” Levett said. “Most importantly, she guarded Gillette’s best player and the Region IX North leading scorer, Kobe King-Hawea, and did a great job guarding her.”
King-Hawea finished with 20 points, “but most of them were when Tess was on the bench,” the coach said.
Meanwhile, Trapper Raquel Turner finished with 12 points, hitting both of her attempts from 3-point range, and helped with four assists. Rounding out the quarter of Trappers in double figures was Riley Aiono, who had 10 points.
Lily Henry pulled down six of the Trappers 32 rebounds to lead the way on the glass.
Up next for Levett and his ladies is Central Wyoming on the road Wednesday and Casper at home Saturday.
Northwest College 83, Western Wyoming 68
Western Wyoming — Ross 25, Lewis 8, Meredith 8, Gourlay 7, Henrie 7, Hatch 6, Hobson 4, Thomas 3.
Northwest College — Smutna 18, Worrell 14, L. Henry 13, Tuigamala 10, T. Henry 8, Turner 5, Martinez 5, Stenerson 5, Wright 3, Aiono 2.
Gillette College 83, Northwest College 65
Northwest College — Smutna 16, T. Henry 15, Turner 12, Aiono 10, Worrell 3, Broussard 3, Wright 2, Adkins 2, L. Henry 2.
Gillette College — King-Hawea 20, Coleman 15, Patton 14, Prather 14, McInerney 9, Seamands 6, Clark 3, Gumber 2.