On Tuesday, January 28, Central Wyoming College faced off against the Northwest College Trappers in Riverton, Wyoming. It was a matchup of teams who were equally hungry for a Region IX win, with their combined conference records totaling out to 1-7.
Women’s Basketball
The Rustlers spared no time lighting up the scoreboard against their opponent, and took a commanding nine point halftime lead after outscoring the Trappers in each of the first two quarters behind. Esperanza Vergara’s constant exchange of her season-high six made three pointers helped stave off the Trappers in the second half, and Natalia Ballin piled on 17 points of her own to pack some power to CWC’s offensive punch. Tiffany Tervort had a team-high 10 rebounds and led the Rustlers to dominate NWC on the glass, 39-33. Central Wyoming had a firm grip on the game in the final minutes, and pulled out an exciting 76-69 victory over NWC to secure their first Region IX win and improve to 1-4 in conference play.
CWC did their best to carry the fire over from Tuesday night’s game into their matchup Thursday on the road against Gillette College, but ultimately lost some of their heat. They struggled to get their footing and slipped behind early in the first half, ceding a 11 score deficit by the break. Despite Laura Ring almost notching a double double with 13 points and nine rebounds, and Natalija Tintor scoring a season-high 11 points, the Rustlers struggled on the offensive end. Outside of Ring and Tintor, they scored 31 points on 26% shooting. And even with an almost identical field goal percentage as their opponent, CWC’s foul trouble hurt them down the stretch and the Pronghorns attempted 24 total free throws, compared to Central Wyoming’s seven. Gillette remained victorious in the end and handed CWC their fifth conference loss of the season.
Men’s Basketball
The Rustler men followed up the stellar women’s basketball game on Tuesday night with a masterpiece of their own. The Northwest College Trappers (15-6, 3-1) rode a three game Region IX win streak into Rustler Gymnasium, but CWC’s stalwart defense had other plans for them. And although they lost the rebound battle 39-23, Central Wyoming won the turnover margin, forcing an average of two for every one they gave up themselves.
After all of this, the teams were still knotted up at 26 apiece by halftime. As the second half commenced, the Rustlers slowly started to creep out in front. And despite a late-game push from NWC in the final minutes, a clutch buzzer-beater block from Mohamed Mahadhi saved CWC from the fate of a last-ditch three pointer. Jordan Peel led the scoring for Central Wyoming, and they added their first one to the win column against a Region IX-North opponent, 55-52.
Unfortunately, they had many struggles of their own on Thursday night against Gillette College. CWC was facing the third highest scoring NJCAA division one team in the nation, and they dug themselves into a hole early. The Pronghorns’ mind-blowing three point attack, which is also third in the nation in three point conversion rate, was on full display. Central Wyoming blinked and were behind 50-22, but were then able to rally after halftime and outscore Gillette 45-38 in the second half. Hunter Trego and Camrin Gulley almost had career-high scoring nights, chipping in 17 & 13, respectively, but it was too little too late. CWC found themselves back in the losing column with their 88-67 defeat.
On the Schedule this Week:
- Men’s Basketball
- Friday, Feb. 7th– HOME vs LCCC @ 7:30pm
- Saturday, Feb. 8th– HOME vs Eastern Wyoming @ 4pm
- Women’s Basketball
- Friday, Feb. 7th– HOME vs LCCC @ 5:30pm
- Saturday, Feb. 8th– HOME vs Eastern Wyoming @ 2pm