NWC women fall to unbeatens

Posted 2/4/16

The Trappers (8-16, 1-7) fell to the undefeated Thunderbirds and Pronghorns — both 8-0 in Region IX North — for the second time this season.

Freshman Jacey Shaw scored 21 points in a 71-63 home loss to Gillette on Saturday, and the Trappers …

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NWC women fall to unbeatens

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The Northwest College women’s basketball team faced no easy task when trying to snap a three-game losing streak last week.

The Trappers (8-16, 1-7) fell to the undefeated Thunderbirds and Pronghorns — both 8-0 in Region IX North — for the second time this season.

Freshman Jacey Shaw scored 21 points in a 71-63 home loss to Gillette on Saturday, and the Trappers fell 73-58 at No. 12 Casper despite leading by one point after the first quarter on Jan. 27.

Northwest’s highest scoring quarters came in the final period of both games, something NWC head coach Janis Beal said is a result of inconsistent and hesitant offense.

“We wait until it’s almost too late before we decide to do it,” Beal said. “We need to have that aggressive, attacking mindset for 40 minutes, not just towards the end of the game when we get down.”

The Trappers won the fourth quarter 24-18 against the Pronghorns on Saturday, but it was too little after falling behind 17-8 in the first.

Northwest actually led 15-14 after the first quarter in Casper, but was outscored 37-24 in the middle quarters before the offense came through for 19 in the fourth.

Shaw scored 16 of her 21 points in the first half against the Pronghorns, but strayed from her strengths after halftime.

“She stopped attacking the hoop, which is where she got most of her points in the first half. She started settling for jump shots in the second half,” Beal said.

Sophomore Chandler Rose — 12 points, five rebounds, one assist — was the only other Trapper in double figures.

Beal said the scoring burden shouldn’t fall onto the shoulders of one player, which is what happened when the Trappers became complacent and expected Shaw to carry the offense.

“I think our team as a whole got into a rut, and we need to do a better job of team offense,” Beal said. “(Shaw’s) scoring great, but either make it easier on her or we got to have another threat. We can’t just have one person scoring and everyone else watching them try to score.”

Sophomore Kealani Sagapolu filled the scoresheet with nine points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Sophomore Shelby Nicholson had nine points and six boards.

Northwest cut Gillette’s lead to as little as 39-35 thanks to a 9-4 run to begin the third quarter, but Gillette switched to a full-court press and finished the quarter on a 14-4 run.

Rose opened the fourth quarter with a drive and Sagapolu followed with a three-point play. Aubree Porter made it seven straight Trapper points with a fast break layup from Sagapolu to make it 53-46.

Northwest would never get closer in the fourth quarter, and Beal traced the trouble back to the start of the game.

“We had 11 turnovers in the first quarter. And that’s where we have to do a better job of valuing every possession. Because those possessions in the first quarter were in a sense more important than the ones in the fourth quarter,” she said.

Northwest played a more even game against No. 12 Casper, but couldn’t contain the T-Birds’ long-range shooting.

“I really felt we played hard for four quarters against them, I felt like we did some good things,” Beal said.

Casper’s Monika Radomska scored a game-high 22 points and was 6-of-10 from the 3-point line. She scored 14 of Casper’s 18 points in the third quarter.

“We had few defensive breakdowns where (Radomska), their shooter, we didn’t find her in transition. We gave her open looks,” Beal said.

Nicholson and sophomore Larissa Knight each had 11 points to pace Northwest against Casper. 

“I felt like Larissa did a really good job. Seemed like she was comfortable in the sense of that role, where she could score a little bit and facilitate the offense,” Beal said.

Knight added two rebounds and two assists.

Sagapolu posted nine points and 10 boards and sophomore Whitney Hatch scored nine as well.

The Trappers shot 32.3 percent from the floor in Casper, and were just 2-of-13 on threes. Northwest was 2-of-12 from deep against Gillette, making it three straight games of 13 or less 3-point attempts.

Prior to a 3-for-11 performance against Central on Jan. 23, the Trappers hadn’t attempted less than 14 threes since a 19-point win over Eastern Wyoming on Nov. 14, a span of 17 games.

Beal said the Trappers are being more picky with their long-range opportunities.

“We want to attack more. We want to get to the free throw line, we want to get post touches,” Beal said. “We’re being a little bit more patient. I love them to shoot the three if it’s on a rebound, kick-out, or we’ve got a post entry and they kick it out, instead of them just dribbling it and shooting the three.”

The Trappers shot better than 30 percent from the 3-point line in just seven games this season, and just once in their past 10 games.

Northwest tried to snap its five-game losing streak in Sheridan at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, and play at Little Big Horn at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Visit facebook.com/powelltribune for results of those games.

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