Lady Badgers team fall just

short of region titles

By Jacob Clawson 

staff writer

3-5-2020

The Snow College women’s basketball team started off the Region XVIII Women’s Basketball Tournament with a bang.

Snow was able to take down Colorado Northwestern for the fourth straight time this season, 64-47 in Twin Falls, Idaho on Friday.

But they ended with a whimper when the No. 1 seeded Salt Lake Community College cruised past the Lady Badgers, 48-72, to move on and eventually claim the region championship.

Gaining an early lead against the Colorado Spartans, Snow didn’t hold anything back, shooting upwards of 53.3 percent from the field.

While the Spartans were able to nip at the heels of the Lady Badgers most of the game, the Lady Badgers really took off in the fourth quarter, scoring 21 points to cement their lead and kick the Spartans out of the tournament.

Shawnee Simpson was credited with a double-double game, scoring 12 points and an impressive 19 rebounds. Sydney Pilling lead the team in points scored though, as she walked away with 20 of her own. Reagan Yamauchi followed behind with 8 points, 4 steals and 7 rebounds.

In a post-game interview, Coach Mike Russell had nothing but amazing things to say about his players. “Syd shot really well tonight, and hopefully she can continue,” he said. “Shawnee is such a hard worker and so determined…She’s one that really carried us with two-thirds of our rebounds. That’s a lot.”

With Colorado Northwestern behind them, Snow moved onto the region semi-finals against the No.1 Seed, Salt Lake Community College.

Both Snow and SLCC struggled to find the net on most of their shots, as the Lady Badgers finished with a 25 percent shooting average, while the Bruins sported a 44.8 percent average.

The Bruins were able to push their lead after an unforgiving third quarter, where they outscored Snow, 16-5, giving themselves a 20-point cushion to cruise to a victory.

Only Shawnee Simpson was able to hit double digits, with her 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Awa Sidibe, Ashley Scoggin and Jallow Fatoumata all lead the Bruins in points scored, as well as rebounds against the Lady Badgers to move them into the championship game against College of Southern Idaho. The Bruins were later able to claim that victory as well, to be crowned the 2020 Region XVIII Champs.

Despite the rough loss to end the season, three Lady Badgers were credited with awards after Thursday’s game. Sydney Pilling and Rachel Roberts were both awarded All-Region Second Team Honors, along with Reagan Yamauchi who was awarded with an All-Region Honorable Mention.