A Bittersweet Ending For Lady Badger Basketball

Ira Bowman

Kiriana Hawaikirangi Scoring the rock against CSI. Photo courtesy of Kyle Perry Sideline focus.

An improbable comeback led to a climactic but unfortunate finish for the Snow College women’s basketball 2024-25 season.

The Lady Badgers started out the season on an impressive 7-1 stretch that included a home win over the preseason number 10 ranked Casper College Thunderbirds 70-68. 

Come January 2nd and the Lady Badgers open conference play with an 84-52 loss at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). This led to the doom and gloom of a 1-5 start in conference play with the remainder of the season looking ill. 

The Lady Badgers then pulled off a stunning 69-60 win at the College of Southern Idaho who was ranked No.14 at the time. This impressive road victory led to a six game winning streak brought the Badgers back into the conference race with a 7-5 record. 

With one last game against SLCC remaining the Badgers season was on the line. Win and they are the two seed in the conference tournament. Loose and the Lady Badgers fall out of the tournament. 

March 5 arrives and the Snow College Women’s basketball team is tied up against SLCC 52-52 with 7.1 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, Badgers have possession. Hawaikirangi hits a game winning floater to send the badgers to the tournament with a 54-52 win over SLCC. 

TheLlady Badgers rode a wave of momentum after a 1-5 start to a 9-6 finish winning 8 of their last 9 games to reach the Region 18 tournament and secure a 61-50 win over North Idaho College in the region 18 tournament semifinal. 

Enter the championship game and the Lady Badgers saw themselves down 45-29 at halftime. Coach Zu’s team came out of halftime with a fire and went on a 20-9 run in the third quarter. In the fourth the Lady Badgers fell just short coming out of Twin Falls with a 67-63 loss in the championship. 

Coach Zu expressed that this season and tournament run meant so alot to her sophomore’s who finished 1-9 in conference play last season.  “It’s bittersweet… I think it meant a lot to them and I think it showed them just how much they can do when they stick with something and stick together”. 

Sophomore starting Center Iyana Beh was named to the all Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) first team. Two more Lady Badger sophomores Brooke Pennington and Kiriana Hawaikirangi were honored on the SWAC all conference second team. 

The Lady Badgers finished this season 21-11improving on last years win total by 9 games Coach Zu is excited to see what next year can bring. “We have got some great kids that will be back for us next year, and some really good kids coming in as freshmen and we are really looking forward to that”.