The Central Wyoming women’s basketball team hosted their last home classic of the 2024-2025 season on Friday and Saturday. All the participants in the classic were from Region IX North and South divisions (McCook College, Western Wyoming Community College and Otero College), which provided a great opportunity to get a glimpse of what conference play will look like for CWC starting in January. Coming into Friday night’s game, the Rustlers had lost nine of their last 10 games, and the team was looking to right the boat before beginning conference play.
They first battled it out against McCook on Friday night. Emotions ran high in this game which ended with a nail-biting finish. Several lead changes throughout the first and second quarter resulted in a 30-29 halftime lead for CWC. There was no quit in either team, and as the Rustlers slowly pulled out to a 45-42 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, the temperature in the gym started to rise. McCook was able to steal away the lead with six minutes left in the fourth, making it 50-49. Central Wyoming answered with several buckets followed by defensive stops and tilted the score in their favor, 55-51 with two and a half minutes left. But after a technical foul and a big time three pointer from McCook, CWC saw their lead shrink to one with less than 10 seconds left. Clutch free throws in the final minutes by Esperanza Vergara and Maren Baker helped hold off the late surge from McCook, and the Rustlers added another one to the win column with their 60-58 victory. Natalia Ballin had a game high 21 points.
Eager to extend their win streak, the Rustlers carried some of their magic over into Saturday afternoon’s game against Otero College. Sophomore Katie Walker was best friends with the hoop this game, and drained multiple three pointers and mid-range shots from all over the court on her way to a game high 25 points on 60% shooting. Ballin also had herself a 21 point performance while facilitating the offense with seven assists. Central Wyoming made light work of the Rattlers, out scoring them in every quarter except the last, and cruised to a 76-66 victory, which marked their fifth win of the season and concluded the remainder of their non-conference schedule.
Men’s Basketball
The CWC men’s basketball team is inching closer to beginning their Region IX conference play, and their tournament in Sterling, Colorado this past weekend was their last scheduled competition before Christmas break. And although they were still in their non-conference schedule, the Rustlers faced two Region IX-South teams on Friday and Saturday.
North Platte Community College was the first challenger on the hardwood Friday afternoon. The Knights (7-5) gave CWC all they could handle, and the Rustlers fed it right back to them. An evenly matched game made for an exciting first half, with Central Wyoming only behind by one at the break. Both teams limited their turnovers and kept healthy paces of scoring. The heat was turned up even more in the second half, with each team exchanging three pointers and fast breaks points. Both squads shot over 40% from behind the arc, which made for a tight finish in the last minutes of the second half. Jordan Peel, Dominic McLawrence, Julian Ormond and Isaac Patik all reached double digit points, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to secure the win. The Rustlers fell 70-63 to North Platte.
The Rustlers needed to dust themselves off from that fistfight, because their next game was at 10 o’clock the next morning against Otero College. But you could tell they were basketball players the way they rebounded from their loss the previous day. CWC woke up on the right side of the bed and leaped out to a 48-34 lead at halftime against the Rattlers. Isaac Patik and Jordan Peel led the offensive charge for the Rustlers with their dominance in the paint and behind the arc. Peel was red hot from three point range and sank five out of his nine attempts. Patik worked his magic around the rim and made 70% of his shots to get him to 15 first half points. After establishing such a commanding lead, they never looked back. Otero couldn’t bring it back close enough to make it interesting, and Peel and Patik finished with 23 and 25 (respectively) to lead Central Wyoming to a 83-68 win.
Next on the Schedule:
- Men’s Basketball
- Saturday, Jan. 11th– HOME vs Snow College @ 2pm
- Thursday, Jan. 16th– HOME vs WWCC @ 7:30pm
- Women’s Basketball
- Thursday, Jan. 16th– HOME vs WWCC @ 5:30pm