Lady Badgers lose to SLCC,
then get 71-50 road victory
By Jacob Clawson
Staff writer
2-27-2020
Despite getting beat at home to the No. 1 ranked Salt Lake Community College Bruins, 54-67, on Thursday, the Lady Badgers pulled off their first road game victory in over a month to defeat Colorado Northwestern, 71-50.
With the win against Snow, the Bruins claimed their seventh straight title in the Scenic West Athletic Conference. The Bruins got off to a slow start against the Lady Badgers, who took a 4-point lead into the second quarter. Then, unable to shoot toe-to-toe with the Bruins, Snow fell behind with just over four minutes remaining in the half.
Once they finally regained the momentum they lacked, SLCC never looked back and slowly expanded their lead in the third and fourth quarter to secure their 20th win of the season.
While a 54-67 loss loomed over the Lady Badgers, both Lexi Peterson and Reagan Yamauchi both scored 12 points apiece. Shawnee Simpson scored 7 points of her own, along with leading the team with 7 rebounds, while Micah Gustafson managed 6 boards and 4 offensive rebounds.
The Lady Badgers then took to the busses to travel to Colorado Northwestern’s Hefley Gym for their final game of the regular season. Having beating the Spartans twice before, Snow knew what they were in for.
The Spartans struggled as they came out in the first quarter fighting against the Lady Badger defense. Holding them to a crippling 18 percent shooting average, Snow was able to push their lead to make it 34-20 at the half.
The Spartans must have had a successful halftime though as they came back out scoring over 50 percent and raised their score by 21 points in the third quarter. The Lady Badgers started to lose their lead as the Spartans closed in.
The fourth, and final period, was to be the deciding minutes of the game as only 5 points separated the two teams. Snow then found the burst of effort and momentum that had been so drastically needed the entire season and went on a roll, scoring 25 points in the final period, claiming a strong 71-50 victory over the Bruins.
Four Lady Badgers scored in double digits, along with 38 rebounds for the team, 18 assists and 9 steals. Lexi Peterson lead the team with 19 points, including four 3-pointers, with Reagan Yamauchi close behind with 17 points of her own. Shawnee Simpson got off 11 points, as Sydney Pilling made two 3-pointers and two other shots to add other 10 points.
With regular season now over, Snow will move on to the Region XVIII tournament in a favorable position. Matched up against Colorado Northwestern once again, the Lady Badgers will enter the tournament confident, having defeated the Spartans all three times during the season. The first round of the conference will be held this Thursday and continue into the weekend as teams play out for the title.
