Trapper basketball season has officially started, as the women’s team traveled to Windsor, Colorado, last weekend to take part in three preseason scrimmages.

First-time head coach Lauren Davis felt like the three games helped her team establish a baseline to work on the next month in practice.

“I told the girls I would take doing this for our first day of practice over actually practicing,” Davis said. “I told them now you know how hard you have to practice and bring this intensity to practice every day.”

The Northwest College team is attempting to incorporate a new system. Additionally, the Trappers have only three returners from last year and only four players enter the season with prior college basketball experience.

The team lost all three games, but Davis felt her squad played well in what was most of the players’ first college-level experiences. The Trappers played College of Southern Idaho (CSI) and Dodge City Community College (Kansas) to within 10 points while having a 13-point loss to Casper College.

Casper College is bringing back five players from a roster last year that went 22-2 and made the national tournament, while CSI brought back half of its roster that went 19-6 and also made it to the national tourney.

Dodge City had a 6-17 record in 2020-21, but brought in a new coach in Landon Steele, who turned Otero Junior College into a national tournament-qualifying team in two years. Dodge City also features an entirely different roster from last year.

“I told the girls that it is a true testament to you guys that we played them close,” Davis said. “We are all a new team and a new coach.”

The coach said the team got pressed each game, and was able to adapt to the pace as the weekend went along.

Conditioning is a typical concern early on in the season, but Davis said she did not see any issues until the end of the third game of the day.

Davis said she is still trying to schedule another scrimmage, but the next scheduled game for the Trappers is their season-opening game against the Rocky Mountain JV, set for 3 p.m. on Nov. 6 in the Cabre Gym.

The coach said she hopes her team learns the importance of maintaining mental toughness throughout the season, as, after the opener, the Trappers will not play at home again until early December.

“Every single girl got better,” Davis said. “We have so much potential this year.”