GAME NOTES: 

• The Snow College women's basketball team will head to Taylorsville to participate in the Salt Lake Classic this weekend, where they will take on two opponents. 

 

• The Badgers will open against Arizona Western College Friday at 3:00 p.m. They will then take on Central Wyoming College Saturday at 11:00 a.m.

 

• The Badgers are coming off the Midland College Classic, where they won one of their three games. They fell to the host school, Midland College, 81-69, to open the event before they also dropped against No. 11 South Plains College 81-61. The Badgers picked up a win to close out the classic against Odessa College, 73-67. 

 

• Snow College is shooting 47.9 percent from the field, which lands them in first place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference. The Badgers have had a higher field goal percentage than all their opponents so far this year. 

 

• Snow College will play a pair of day games at the Salt Lake Classic. The Badgers are 6-1 this season when they play before 5:00 p.m. and are 45-34 all-time under Head Coach Zu Grinsell. 

 

• The Badgers are 6-0 when they hold opponents to fewer than 59 points, including a win against CWC earlier this season, 69-54. They hold a record of 58-13 under Grinsell. 

 

• The Matadors enter the classic with a record of 4-5; two of their losses came against Midland. They have also fallen to Odessa 63-55. 

 

• The Badgers trail the all-time series 3-4 against AWC with a three-game losing streak, all of which came in the 2021-2022 season. The Badgers lost at three different non-conference tournaments, and the last meeting ended in an AWC 65-52 win.  

 

• CWC holds a record of 5-6 entering the event, while Snow College is 13-0 all-time against CWC, including a victory earlier this season. The matchup took place at the Eagle Classic, where the Badgers won 69-54. 

 

• In that meeting, the Badgers outshot the Rustlers 43.8 percent to 34.8 percent from the field. Dalana Jakovljevic finished the game with a double-double, recording 16 points and 10 rebounds.

LAST TIME OUT: The Snow College women's basketball team picked up one win at the Midland College Classic last weekend. The Badgers opened the classic with a loss to the host school, Midland College, 81-69. They also fell to No. 11 South Plains College 81-61 before grabbing their sole victory of the classic over Odessa College 73-67. 

The Badgers entered the classic off the heels of the Eagle Classic, where they won both of their games over Central Wyoming College 69-54 and Eastern Wyoming College 81-47.

The Badgers and Chaparrals had a close first quarter as both teams missed chances throughout the period. They were tied at eight by the midway point, and it extended to a slight Badger lead by the end of the quarter, 12-11. 

The second quarter saw both teams trade early points to tie the game at 16-16. Midland would then go on a 12-5 run over the middle section to go up 28-21 and close out the half up 32-25. Midland outscored the Badgers 21-13 in the second quarter. 

The second half opened as the Chaparrals kept the Badgers at bay, but never let their lead drop below eight in the third quarter as they entered the final period up 54-42. 

In the fourth quarter, the Badgers were able to battle the lead as low as five with four minutes left after they strung together a 12-2 run. Midland would respond with a 20-3 run to close out the game, with their last 16 points coming off free throws to win the game 81-69. 

Sara Aoki led the Badgers in scoring with 28 points. The Badgers took their largest number of threes so far this year with 34 attempts, as they converted on nine. They had four second-chance points against Midlands 15. 

The following day, Snow College faced off against No. 11 SPC.


The first quarter saw both teams trade buckets to a 12-12 tie by the midway marker. SPC sparked a 15-7 run for the second half of the quarter to end up 27-19 heading to the second. 

The Texans used the second quarter to build their lead to 13 points with five minutes left in the half. The Badgers used a 6-2 run to cut into the deficit, but SPC strung two threes and a layup together to extend their lead to 48-31 at half.

In the second half, SPC kept their foot on the gas, stretching their lead as it never let the Badgers back into the game. It ended the third period with a 70-43 lead. The fourth quarter was the only time the Badgers outscored the Texans 18-11, but it wasn't enough to pull them back into the game as SPC won, 81-61. 

Snow College had three scorers in double digits as Seni Tuipulotu, Lala Baldwin, and Aoki had 16,13, and 10, respectively. The Badgers finished the game with 26 rebounds to SPC's 35. Sydnee Smith was the Badgers' leading rebounder with seven. 

The Badgers headed into their final game of the classic against Odessa. 

The first quarter of the game followed a similar pattern to the previous two, where it was a tough fight, and Smith found the first points of the game for the Badgers. Odessa would then score the next seven points. The Badgers would pull it closer by the end of the first, down 13-10. 

Snow College would open the second quarter on an 8-4 run to take the lead for the first time since the opening bucket. The Badgers would continue to grow their lead, as they outscored the Wranglers 16-10 in the second to go into half up 26-23. 

Out of the half, both sides kept the score close as Odessa was able to come back and take the lead early in the quarter. The Badgers would come back as Aoki was able to hit a jumper in the paint to spark a 16-4 point run to take the lead back and then some. They would then head into the final stanza with a 48-42 lead. 

The Badgers used the fourth to extend their lead to as much as 16 points with 2:20 left on the clock. The Wranglers found an 11-1 run over the rest of the match, but the Badgers were able to hold on to close the game with a 73-67 victory. 

Avery Allred and Hillary Akomatsri led the Badgers in scoring with 14 points apiece. The Badgers had 24 bench points and 10 on the fast break. 

UP NEXT: The Badgers will be hosting the Snow College Holiday Invitational next weekend, where they will play two games. The first will be against Otero Junior College Friday, Dec. 12 at 3:00 p.m. They will then turn around and face Harford Community College Saturday Dec. 13 at 11:45 a.m. For video streaming and live stats information, visit snowbadgers.com.