NWC WOMEN SWEEP HOME WEEKEND
BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune
Strong shooting Friday night and lockdown defense on Saturday helped the Northwest College women's basketball pick up some key conference wins at home, defeating Eastern Wyoming 87-63 on Friday before defeating Laramie County Community College 61-46 on Saturday.
NORTHWEST 87, EASTERN WYOMING 63
The Trappers (16-10 overall, 3-5 Region IX North) returned home looking for a better shooting experience than the first time they matched up with the Lancers (11-14 overall, 2-6 Region IX North) and shot just 35.9% in a 82-68 loss.
Early on the Trappers had good scoring opportunities but weren't able to capitalize, trailing 6-5 midway through the first quarter.
The Trapper offense picked up the rest of the quarter, building a 19-13 lead heading into the second.
That strong offense continued early in the second quarter, when a Tayva Phillips 3-pointer made it 29-18 with six minutes left in the half.
Northwest led by as many 15, but late baskets by Eastern cut the lead down to 44-34 heading into the locker room.
Early in the second half Northwest pushed the lead back out behind Phillips and Kelsi Nicholson, as the Trappers made it a 20 point game up 60-40.
Northwest's strong shooting pushed the lead to 71-49 heading into the fourth quarter.
The largest lead of the game came on a 3-pointer by Carolina Ruiz with 7:37 left in the final frame as Northwest led 79-55.
Northwest saw out the game for an 87-63 win.
Nicholson led the Trappers with 17 points and tied for the team lead in rebounds with six. Ruiz finished with 16 points, while Phillips had 14 and six rebounds.
Emma Pique added 13 and Taylee Carlson had 12 as the other Trapper in double figures.
Bianca Silva led with five assists while three Trappers had three steals each.
"I was proud of her (Silva) because she didn't let it (low scoring) impact the rest of the stuff she did," coach Cody Helenbolt said. "She still had some steals, assists and rebounds. She was a vocal leader out there. Sometimes when your leading scorer doesn't have a good offensive game they tend to let the rest of their game go down. I was really proud of the fact she didn't do that."
Northwest shot 29-53 (54.7%) from the field and 13-28 (46.4%) from 3-point range while the Lancers shot 21-67 (31.3%) from the field and 11-38 (28.9%) from 3-point range.
"It was nice to have one of those (nights) because it felt like the past few games everybody else has been having that night against us and shooting 50% from three," Helenbolt said.
NORTHWEST 61, LCCC 46
After the strong shooting on Friday the Trappers turned their attention to the Golden Eagles (12-12 overall, 3-5 Region IX North) where defense again shined against the visitors.
Scoring was difficult to come by for both teams early on, as the two were deadlocked at five apiece midway through the first quarter.
The rest of the first quarter the scoring picked up for both teams, as Northwest led 15-13 before a difficult second quarter for both squads.
Northwest pushed the lead to 19-13 after a Silva steal and layup, as Northwest's defense frustrated the Golden Eagles.
The Trappers held LCCC scoreless until the 3:25 mark of the second quarter, but didn't take advantage of the scoring drought and only led 19-15.
Northwest maintained a lead heading into the half, leading 23-20 at the break.
Scoring in the third quarter picked up, with Northwest taking advantage and leading 38-31 with 4:25 left after a Ruiz 3-pointer.
LCCC kept things close late in the frame, getting a steal and buzzer beating layup to make it a 44-40 game heading into the fourth.
Early on in the fourth quarter the Trappers received two big 3-pointers by Phillips to help solidify the lead and push it to double digits as Northwest led 52-40 with 6:45 left.
"I think when Tayva gets going, anytime she's had a really good game, we've been really good," Helenbolt said. "So that was kind of the spark was that we got a couple kick out threes for her."
The defense continued to shine for Northwest, again keeping the visitors scoreless until 2:28 left in the quarter when the Golden Eagles made it 57-43.
Northwest saw out the final couple minutes and ended with a 61-46 win.
"We actually won every quarter of basketball this weekend which I thought was really huge. We didn't have any moment where we kind of had a little mini meltdown and let someone back in or did something stupid," Helenbolt said. "It was so nice to be home after we had four games in a row on the road. We had some kids sick and just a little bit worn out from that. So it's really nice to be back here."
Phillips led with 19 points while Silva had 10 as the other Trapper in double figures.
Silva led with six steals, four rebounds and four assists, adding one block.
Northwest held a big advantage at the free throw line, going 16-19 (84.2%) while the Golden Eagles went 4-4.
HOME GAME TONIGHT
The Trappers will stay at home for one more game this week, hosting Central Wyoming (7-19 overall, 2-6 Region IX North) at 5:30 p.m. tonight (Thursday).
"The thing that they did last time is they came out and played a 2-3 zone the whole game and then they've done it every game since," Helenbolt said. "It kind of caught us off guard a little bit, but now we've seen it, that helps."
Northwest then heads to Casper Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., taking on the Thunderbirds (19-6 overall, 6-1 Region IX North).
NORTHWEST 87, EASTERN WYOMING 63
Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()
Points — Kelsi Nicholson 17, Carolina Ruiz 16, Tayva Phillips 14, Emma Pique 13, Taylee Carlson 12, Elise Swan 5, Jai'La Porter 4, Selen Ucak 4, Bianca Silva 2
Rebounds — Tayva Phillips 6 (1), Kelsi Nicholson 6, Emma Pique 3 (1), Jai'La Porter 3 (1), Taylee Carlson 2, Bianca Silva 1, Elise Swan 1, Selen Ucak 1, Sydnee Harris 1, Carolina Ruiz 1
Assists — Bianca Silva 5, Carolina Ruiz 4, Emma Pique 2, Tayva Phillips 2, Jai'La Porter 2, Kelsi Nicholson 2, Elise Swan 2, Selen Ucak 2, Taylee Carlson 1
Steals — Kelsi Nicholson 3, Bianca Silva 3, Carolina Ruiz 3, Emma Pique 2, Tayva Phillips 2, Jai'La Porter 1, Elise Swan 1
Blocks — Kelsi Nicholson 1
NORTHWEST 61, LCCC 46
Points — Tayva Phillips 19, Bianca Silva 10, Emma Pique 9, Jai'La Porter 7, Kelsi Nicholson 7, Carolina Ruiz 7, Selen Ucak 2
Rebounds — Bianca Silva 4 (1), Kelsi Nicholson 3 (1), Tayva Phillips 2 (2), Elise Swan 2 (2), Taylee Carlson 2, Carolina Ruiz 2, Emma Pique 1 (1), Jai'La Porter 1
Assists — Bianca Silva 4, Emma Pique 2, Carolina Ruiz 2, Kelsi Nicholson 1, Elise Swan 1
Steals — Bianca Silva 6, Tayva Phillips 5, Emma Pique 2, Jai'La Porter 2, Kelsi Nicholson 2, Carolina Ruiz 1
Blocks — Bianca Silva 1