By: Mikala Lindhardt
The Lady Badger basketball team began conference play in the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) this past weekend and is now 7-10 overall and 0-2 in conference. Last weekend Snow hosted, and lost to, the College of Southern Idaho Golden Eagles (40-39) and the No. 1 nationally ranked North Idaho College Cardinals (56-47).

The Badgers versus the Golden Eagles took place on Jan. 3. Sophomores #Jordi Wilden# and #Courtnie Duncan# tied with a team-high eight points each. Wilden was perfect from the free-throw line and was the leading rebounder, grabbing nine boards.

Sophomore guard #Becca Rees# scored seven and had the Badgers' only 3-pointer.

 With 13 seconds left in the game, and the Badgers down one, Snow had the ball and called timeout. Rees put up a 3-pointer that just missed. Willden rebounded and had a good look at a jumper that rolled off at the buzzer giving the Badgers their first conference loss of the season.

“Thursday night's game featured tough defense and poor overall shooting from both teams,” said Head Coach Natalie Visger. “The difference came down to their 13 offense boards to our seven and they made their free throws in the final minutes of the game and we didn't. I thought our team executed our game plan well and we had a chance to win with the ball on the sideline with under 15 to go. We ran the play well, Becca took a deep three that rattled out and Jordi came up with the rebound, took one dribble and shot it with time running out. Her shot was everything but in! Even though she missed, I would want her to take the last shot for us in any game like that. It was a heartbreaking loss.”

Two days later the Badgers played the No. 1 team in the nation, the North Idaho College Cardinals, and came up on the short end, 56-47. Snow led 24-23 at the half, but NIC stormed back to outscore the Badgers by 10 in the second period.

Duncan scored 14 points for the Badgers, two buckets coming from behind the 3-point arc, and was 2-2 from the free-throw line.
Badger freshmen guard #Amber Daly# scored ten points, grabbed four rebounds, and was a perfect 6-6 from the line.

 “NIC got beat for the first time this season at Salt Lake Community College on Thursday,” Visger said.  “They didn't shoot well and I had a feeling that a team that shoots the three as well as they do wouldn't miss those kind of shots two games in a row. Once again our team defensively executed our game plan perfectly. North Idaho College didn't shoot well the first half but they crashed the boards hard on offense and got some second-chance points in the key. Courtnie Duncan and #Kiz Farrer# played really well offensively and kept us in the game until North Idaho was able to pull away with some deep three's. Their zone bothered us and we will do much better offensively against them a few weeks from now.”

The Ladies participated in the Bruce Fleck Classic Tournament in Tucson, Ariz., on Dec. 27 and came home with losses to unranked Cochise College (45-61) and nationally ranked No. 8 Central Arizona College (34-60), and one win against Eastern Arizona College (53-50). During this tournament no official stats were recorded.

“Cochise College was our first game after a long 10-day break and we were rusty,” Visger said. “We kept it close despite too may unforced turnovers and were within six points at the half. I thought our team fought hard throughout the game but we couldn't hold onto much of a lead. Cochise hit some three's that we were unable to counter offensively.”

Talking about the second game on Dec. 28 Visger said, “Eastern Arizona is a well-coached team. They mixed up their defenses and kept us on our toes. It was a game of runs. They forced us into a few mistakes with their full court pressure but the team responded well. We had several people make important plays down the stretch and we hit our free throws with we needed to. It was a nice win for us.”

Speaking on the final game of the tournament Visger explained, “Central Arizona overwhelmed us pretty much at every position and I could tell we didn't have much left in the gas tank. They were a very well-coached and talented team who took it at us. Our bench did a good job in the second half showing resilience and getting quality minutes for us as we head into a very challenging SWAC schedule.”

Snow College will travel to Rangely, Colo., on Jan. 10 to play Colorado Northwestern Community College and then to Price to play USU-Eastern.