Quick Look: Wednesday, February 20th
Women: Central 78 Western 71
Men: Western 86 Central 78
Central basketball teams at Western Wyoming Wednesday. The women’s team saw a bit of history made as Paulani Tarawa eclipsed the modern day scoring record with a 17 point output. The women built a lead then withstood runs by Western to get the conference win and secure the #6 seed with one game to play in conference. The Rustler men fell behind early, trailed the entire game and fell by 8.
The Rustler women led 20 to 8 early. They would lead by two at half. The lead ballooned to 13 in the 2nd half before Central settled in on the 78-71 win. Central never trailed in the contest. Rylee Burmester scored 20 points going 6-6 from the free throw line, making her 18 for 18 in the last two games. She has hit 20 consecutive free throws. She also had 9 rebounds and is 2 away from tying #4 on the modern day rebound list held by Elise Keller.
The story of the night, however, might be the return and history-making night for Orem, Utah, sophomore Paulani Tarawa. She suffered a deep bone bruise and has missed the last five games. She played Wednesday night and scored 17 points, taking over as the leading career scorer since Central has brought basketball back. She now has 813 points. She surpasses Cortney Patterson’s 806 points. Patterson is an assistant for Western Wyoming College and was watching from the Mustang’s bench as she broke the record. Coach Lindsey Fearing, “I’m so proud to be able to coach a kid like Lani. One of the toughest, selfless kids I know and she deserves to have her name on the top of the leaderboard for CWC for years to come.”
Essy Latu battled foul trouble and scored 12 in just 13 minutes of play. Central had just 11 turnovers which coach Fearing was proud of, “Great effort from everyone tonight, low turnovers and we got it done defensively.”
Central’s women know they will be on the road for the Region 9 play-in game, but, where is to be determined with a three-way tie for 3rd after last night’s action. Casper beat Gillette 51 to 49, LCCC won at Eastern 64-61, Sheridan beat Northwest 54-49.
The Rustler men again fell victim to a slow start and cold shooting as Western kept a near double-digit lead the entire game. Central never led and fell behind by as many as 19 in the game that saw the Rustlers connect on only 6 of 22 three’s. They did score 28 points from the free throw line in 39 attempts. They were out-rebounded by 11 including 21 offensive boards by the Mustangs.
Coach Brad Schmit was frustrated with his team’s poor shooting against Western a second time, “As a team, we have struggled early in games. It is completely on me as a coach getting these guys prepared. We will get back after it tomorrow in practice and hope for a better performance on Saturday.”
Wind River Sophomore Taylor Tidzump posted a new career-high scoring with 20 to lead the Rustlers. He was in foul trouble, however, and played only 22 minutes before fouling out. David Simental and James Woods both scored 16 in the loss.
There were 79 free throws in the game, Western was 30-40, Central was 28 of 39. Central trailed 49 to 35 at half time.
*Men’s Notes
Central’s Men are 5 and 8 in league play, and 10 and 18 overall.
With a win Saturday, the Rustlers will secure the #4 seed and a home play-in game next weekend. A loss sends the tiebreaker into full effect with a few other teams.
*Women’s Notes:
Central is 4-9 in league play, and 10-18 overall.
Central is 6th place no matter the outcome of Saturday’s game. Their destination for the play in game will be determined Saturday if not Sunday by tie-breaking criteria.
CWC Up Next:
Saturday, February 23rd
CWC will host LCCC in the final regular season game. Its Sophomore recognition and BLACKOUT night. Wear black and get free admission to the game. Game times at 2 and 4 pm from Rustler Gym.