Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 By: Mikala Lindhardt
In fifth place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC), the Lady Badger basketball team (3-7 conference, 9-15 overall) lost 68-53 to USU-Eastern (4-6, 7-15) and won 50-46 against Colorado Northwestern Community College (2-8, 13-12) last week.
In Thursday's game against the Golden Eagles sophomore forward
Jordi Willden scored 14 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Badgers. “Our defense was definitely lacking,” says Willden. “We need to play better team defense and work the ball around more. This game I really tried to work hard for the team, but we just couldn't pull it out.”
Freshmen guard #
Amber Daly# scored nine of the Badgers 53 and was 2-2 from the free-throw line.
“This game was a tough one,” said head coach Natalie Visger. “I don't think we defended well enough to win and the game got out of hand early. Our bench did a tremendous job pressuring USU-Eastern and got some steals. We pulled within ten but couldn't get much closer.”
However, Saturday's game against the Spartans proved to be a swing of the pendulum.
Sophomore guard #
Becca Rees# was the high scorer for the Badgers with 12 points, including three from behind the arc. “What did it for our team was our defensive intensity,” says Rees. “As a team we played tough defense and that's what gave us a spark on the offensive end. It was a really fun game and I feel we can carry that energy over into the remaining games as well.”
Willden, along with sophomore #
Courtnie Duncan#, had seven points each -- six of Duncan's seven points came from behind the 3-point line. Willden grabbed five rebounds and Duncan seven.
“[Colorado] gave us a tough game and played well after their win at Salt Lake Community College Thursday,” said Visger. “They played us tough and made key runs to keep it close.
Tristin Bowers had a great game and set the tone for us defensively. Our sophomores made key plays as well and I'm proud of our team for staying together and focused to secure the win down the stretch. It is hard to snap a losing streak and we got over that hump mentally on Saturday.”
Bowers, a freshman guard, scored six points and crashed seven boards.
The Ladies traveled to Idaho two weeks ago and lost to both North Idaho College (81-50) and College of Southern Idaho (66-54).
Against the NIC Cardinals, who are ranked No. 2 in the national polls, freshman forward
Lyssa Hanks came off the bench to score a team-high 10 points for the Badgers and grab four rebounds in just 15 minutes of play.
Daly scored seven points and got three rebounds for Snow while Willden led the Badgers with six rebounds.
“North Idaho College started off the game with an agenda and it felt like they couldn't miss,” said Visger. “We battled hard but their zone defense caused us problems and we had a hard time containing them in transition. However, I thought our bench did a nice job in the second half as we played much better.”
Speaking about the game, Visger said, “We had our best offensive start of the conference season at CSI, but they came out assertive in the second half and we were unable to sustain our lead. We had too many second half turnovers and they hurt us on the offensive boards.”
Daly led the Badgers with 18 points and Duncan added 15 against CSI.
The Badgers will be on the road this week to play No. 19 nationally ranked Salt Lake Community College on Saturday.
