GAME NOTES:

• The Snow College women's basketball team will host the Snow College Holiday Invitational this weekend.

 

• The event will start Friday, where the Badgers will take on Otero Junior College at 3:00 p.m. The Badgers will take on Harford Community College  Saturday at 11:45 a.m. 

 

• The Badgers are coming off the heels of the Salt Lake Classic, where they defeated Arizona Western College 65-59 and Central Wyoming College 53-40. 

 

• Snow College is returning home for the first time since the opening weekend when it hosted the Snow College Classic at the Richfield Campus. In the classic, the Badgers went 2-0 with wins over the College of Southern Nevada, 65-50 and Yavapai College, 87-53. 

 

• The Badgers are averaging 41.9 rebounds per game and are outrebounding their opponents by an average of 4.2 rebounds per game. They are 6-0 this season when they outrebound their opponents and are 69-24 all-time under Head Coach Zu Grinsell. 

 

• The Badgers have shot a higher three-point percentage than seven of their opponents and have won all of those games; Grinsells' teams hold a record of 62-16 when they accomplish this feat. They are shooting 29 percent from beyond the arc as a team this season. 

 

• Otero enters the invitational with a 1-10 record, including losses to common opponents Midland College (67-60) and No. 4 South Plains College (97-55). 

 

• The Badgers are 2-1 all-time against Otero, with the last meeting coming last year at the New Mexico Junior College Classic, where the Badgers picked up the 65-47 win. 

 

• Harford has a record of 4-3 heading into the invitational. This will be the first meeting between the two programs.  

LAST TIME OUT: The Snow College women's basketball team picked up two victories at the Salt Lake Classic in Taylorsville last weekend, defeating Arizona Western College 65-59 and Central Wyoming College 54-40. 

The Badgers were coming off a trip to Texas for the Women's National Invitation Tournament. They fell to the host school, Midland College, 81-69, and No. 11 South Plains College 81-61 while defeating their final opponent of the tournament, Odessa College, 73-67.

The Badgers opened the game against AWC with the first bucket of the match, but surrendered a 10-2 run to be put on their back foot. They used the rest of the first quarter to bring the score back within two points at 18-16. 

AWC continued the momentum as it kept the lead to around two possessions. The Matadors built their lead to eight with 4:15 left in the half before the Badgers sparked a 7-3 run to close out the second quarter to bring the score to 37-33. 

The Badgers came out of the half on a 7-4 run to open up the third period to take their first lead of the game since the opening bucket at 42-41. AWC regained a slight advantage to close the third quarter, up 48-47. 

AWC opened the fourth quarter with a layup paired with a free-throw to extend its lead, but the Badgers bounced back with eight straight points to put themselves in the driver's seat for the final period. The Badgers held on, outscoring the Matadors 10-8 to close out the game with a 65-59 win. 

Hillary Akomatsri and Sara Aoki finished the game tied with 16 points apiece. Kysa Shippen also finished the game with 10 points, and Sydnee Smith recorded 10 rebounds. 

After defeating AWC, the Badgers turned their attention to CWC for the second time this season. 

The Badgers opened the game against CWC with five straight points and then expanded their lead to 8-2. The Rustlers responded with their own 5-4 run to pull the game back within reach at 12-7 by the midway marker of the first quarter. The Badgers would respond with a 6-3 run to close out the first at 18-10. 

CWC scored eight points to open the second quarter to knot the game up at 18-18 and would take its first lead of the game at 21-20 with seven minutes to go in the first half. Snow College would respond with 16 straight points to close the half up 36-21. 

The third quarter saw the Badgers' scoring slow down, as the Rustlers outscored them 12-8. The Rustlers closed the period on a 7-2 run, entering the fourth quarter down 44-33.

The final stanza saw both teams slow down, but the Badgers' defense was able to hold CWC to seven points in the period to close out the game with a 53-40 win. 

Seini Tuipulotu led the way in scoring with nine points and was one of nine Badgers who recorded points. Smith collected 12 rebounds as the team had 55 total boards to CWC's 45. 
 
UP NEXT: Snow College will wrap up its non-conference slate against Navajo Technical College Dec. 18 at 1:00 p.m. inside the Horne Activity Center in Ephraim. It will be the first meeting between the two programs. For video streaming and live stats information, visit snowbadgers.com.