Trappers finish 6th, face Otero

Posted 2/25/16

Northwest beat Central Wyoming 73-65 on Feb. 17 in Riverton, and lost 87-82 at home against Sheridan on Saturday to wrap up the regular season with an 11-19 overall record and 4-10 in Region IX-North. The Trappers won three of their last five to …

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Trappers finish 6th, face Otero

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Northwest wins three of final five games

Another win pushed the Northwest College women’s basketball team out of the dreaded bottom two seeds and set the Trappers up with a first-round matchup against Otero.

Northwest beat Central Wyoming 73-65 on Feb. 17 in Riverton, and lost 87-82 at home against Sheridan on Saturday to wrap up the regular season with an 11-19 overall record and 4-10 in Region IX-North. The Trappers won three of their last five to avoid facing No. 18-ranked Western Nebraska (23-3, 11-1 South), or No. 2-seeded McCook (26-3, 10-2) in the first round of the Region IX Tournament.

“We’re trying to instill in the girls that now is that time — 0-0,” NWC head coach Janis Beal said, referring to her team’s clean slate. “What happened in the past doesn’t matter as long as we show up now. The momentum we’ve had the second half of conference play should help us upswing into the tournament.”

The Trappers take on Otero at 3 p.m. on Wednesday in Gillette.

“Hopefully that will be an advantage for us,” Beal said. “Hopefully being a little bit familiar with (Gillette’s gym) will give us a little bit of that home court advantage.”

Northwest’s travel time will be approximately between four and five hours, while Otero’s will be between 7.5 and 8.5 hours.

Otero (14-13, 9-3 South) finished its season on an 8-1 run, with its only loss of the month coming in the season-finale against McCook. But the Rattlers’ overall record, which puts them just one game north of .500, suggests to Beal that “they’ve been less consistent” than the top two teams of the South.

The Rattlers score 68.8 points per game behind a heavy dose of 3-pointers. They average 7.5 made threes (15th most in the nation) on 22 attempts (32nd in nation) per game.

Sophomore guard Macy Myers leads the charge with 20.3 ppg on 9.4 attempted threes per game. She hits 38.9 percent from long range though just 38 percent overall from the field.

Beal said Myers has “a quick release” and will be a key defensive assignment.

Sophomore guard Shelby Patterson averages 14.8 ppg on 44 percent shooting. Most of Patterson’s points come from inside the arc. She averages just one made three on 3.5 attempts per game.

Delaney Gaddis also makes, on average, one three per game while scoring 10.1 ppg. The sophomore guard also leads the Rattlers with seven rebounds per game.

The Trappers could have an advantage on the boards, where the Rattlers were at an average deficit of four rebounds (39.5-35.1) per game.

Sophomore center Madeline Jacquart scored 10.3 ppg on 43.5 percent shooting from the floor and has not attempted a three this season.

Forward Elin Ekdahl, another sophomore, scored 9.5 ppg and shoots 40.7 percent from deep, though she’s attempted just 27 threes all season.

Trappers earn sixth seed on road

The win at Central ended up being worth more than just a single victory.

Miles City also finished 4-10 in Region IX, but won just one of those games on the road. The Trappers won at Little Big Horn and at Central to earn the tiebreaker and claim the sixth seed. Miles finished seventh and will face McCook.

The Trappers held Central to 38.3 percent from the floor, compared to 49.1 percent during a 72-60 home loss to the Rustlers on Jan. 23.

“The thing I thought the team did a good job of was, defensively, applying a lot more pressure and making shots a lot tougher,” Beal said.

Sophomore Kealani Sagapolu and a balanced Northwest offense handled the rest.

Sagapolu finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and two steals to lead the way as all 10 Trappers scored in the win. 

Sophomore guard Chandler Rose added 11 points, three rebounds and two steals.

Freshmen Maddy Johnson and Jacey Shaw had eight points each, sophomore Larissa Knight had seven and sophomores Shelby Nicholson and Whitney Hatch scored six points apiece.

“Maddy was a really good spark coming off the bench,” Beal said.

Fall at home on Sophomore Night

Sagapolu had a career night but the Trappers couldn’t get over the hump late in the game as they fell by five to Sheridan in the season finale on Saturday.

The star forward finished with 30 points and 11 rebounds for her 15th double-double of the season.

Sagapolu shot 10-for-13 from the field and 10-for-12 from the free throw line.

Shaw added 15 points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals, while Rose had eight points, four boards, three assists, three steals and two blocks.

Hatch had 10 points and three rebounds. She was 3-for-6 from the field and 4-for-4 from the foul line.

“As the flow of the game went, they (the Generals) got in a little bit of a foul trouble with their bigs, and having both (Sagapolu and Hatch) in at the same time exploited kind of a mismatch,” Beal said.

Northwest kept pace with the Generals despite allowing 30 points in both the second and fourth quarters.

The Trappers were behind 47-34 in the third quarter when they sparked a 22-10 run to pull within one point in the opening seconds of the fourth quarter.

Shaw closed the third quarter with a pull-up jumper that bounced on the rim twice before falling through the net as the buzzer sounded.

Sagapolu continued the momentum into the final period with a 3-point play that cut Sheridan’s lead to 57-56.

Scores by Hatch, Shaw and Sagapolu kept it a one-point game until the Generals went on a 13-6 run to lead 76-68 with just more than four minutes to play.

“They had a kid, she really does a good job of attacking on the right-hand side,” Beal said. “In the first half we contained her, trying to make her go left more. We didn’t do a good job of making that adjustment in the second half.”

Beal said she thinks the fact Northwest was so close to earning back-to-back conference wins is a sign the team is starting to figure out how to play consistent basketball. 

“That last game against Sheridan, too, was a very winnable game,” Beal said. “I think we’re on the right trend.”

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