Lady Badger win one,
lose one on the road
By Matt Harris
Staff writer
2-13-2020
In a hard-fought week, the Snow College women’s basketball team claimed another strong victory at home against Colorado Northwestern, 67-35, but couldn’t break the streak and lost on the road in Twin Falls, Idaho to the College of Southern Idaho, 50-61.
Notwithstanding solidifying their fourth-place standings in the conference, the Lady Badgers were able to play one of the best games of their season thus far, along with improving their defense.
Thursday’s match-up in the Horne Activity Center was squared up against Colorado Northwestern. Despite the concrete win Snow took just a few weeks prior, the Spartans came out with a different attitude.
Snow took an early lead, but the Spartans trailed close behind. After a missed basket and loose defense however, the Spartans took the lead for the first time at the end of the first quarter 15-14.
Reluctant to find themselves behind at the half, Snow turned up the heat and held the Spartans without a basket up until the last two possessions of the half. Due to the iron wall defense that the Lady Badgers placed on the court, they were eventually able to secure a 12-point lead at the half, 26-19.
Returning to the court after the half, the Lady Badgers kept their fire burning and pushed their lead to 26 points. The Lady Badgers’ defense held the Spartans to one basket the entire third quarter, with only 6 points allowed in the last two quarters of the game.
Snow cruised into an indisputable 67-35 victory. While not having the weight to push the Lady Badgers up in the standings, Snow still took their victory with pride and relished the opportunity to improve on their rough season.
Saturday however, proved to be yet another loss on the road for the Lady Badgers after being outscored in the fourth quarter by the Golden Eagles in Twin Falls. Despite holding the lead for three periods, Snow found themselves without enough baskets in the fourth quarter to pull out a victory, as the Golden Eagles fought through and outscored Snow 19-5.
When asked how Snow pulled off such an incredible win, holding Colorado to only 6 points in two quarters, Coach Mike Russell commented about their improvement in defense. “It’s great to win, especially coming off a really disappointing loss in Price. I’m happy defensively with how we’re playing especially since we’re down another player. We’ve been playing some unconventional defense and it’s actually our best defense.”
Coach Russell mentioned his aspirations for the team this season as they enter their final games. “At this point in time we just want to get better,” he said. “Hopefully we can be healthy by the tournament because we’ve proven we can play with anybody, and of course we want to win, but for us it’s about getting better. I think if we’re healthy we’ll have a great shot at the tournament.”
Snow will take on Utah State University Eastern on Thursday, Feb. 13 at home. After suffering losses at home and on the road in Price, the Lady Badgers face once last chance to avenge themselves.
