Ira Bowman
Staff
It's been almost a month since the Lady Badgers had a lead at the final buzzer of a conference game. However, in what some may say is lucky, Coach Zu and her team put together two complete games to come out of the Idaho road trip with two convincing wins.
Thursday, January 30, the Lady Badgers tipped off against No.14 College of Southern Idaho. Snow college got out to an early lead and held it to be up at the end of quarter number one 10-8. A back-and-forth second quarter saw the Lady Badgers shoot 52.4% from the field in the first half to have a 27-24 advantage entering the break.
The third quarter was fast paced and with 1:12 left in the quarter, CSI tied the game up at 42. Then back-to-back buckets with a layup from Sydnee smith and a 3-pointer from Madison Hosino saw Snow lead at the end of three 47-44 after both teams scored an even 20 points in the quarter.
The Lady Badgers executed down the stretch in the last 10 minutes to outscore the Golden Eagles 22-16 in the final period and walked out of Twin Falls with a 9-point victory over the No. 14 team in the country 69-60. Hawaikirangi led all scores with 18 points and 5 steals.
Following that upset in Twin Falls Snow College went to Cour d’Alane Idaho to take on North Idaho College on Saturday, February 1. This game was an absolute thriller with 11 lead changes and 15 ties.
At the end of the first half, Coach Zu’s team was staring down the barrel of a 4-point deficit. The Lady Badgers met the challenge in the third quarter, outscoring the Cardinals 10-6 and tying the game up 41-41. A drilled step-back corner 3-pointer from Seni Tuipulotu helped push the Badgers to score 17 points in the final frame of regulation, which ended with both teams tied at 58.
In the extra period, The Lady Badgers had an offensive explosion scoring more in the five minutes of overtime than they did in any of the previous 10-minute quarters. This scoring outburst was helped by Hawaikirangi who went 6-6 from the free-throw line in a game that Snow struggled from the line as a team.
When the final buzzer sounded in Cour d’Alane the Snow College Lady Badgers had completed a road sweep of the Idaho schools with a final of 76-69 against the Cardinals of North Idaho College. Iyana Bey fished with a team-high 22 points and 9 rebounds while Hawaikirangi finished with 17 points on 4-7 from the field and 9-10 from the free throw-line.
The Badgers have moved now to 14-9 overall and 3-5 in Scenic West Athletic Conference play. Up Next for the Lady Badgers is a home tilt against Colorado Northwestern Thursday, February 6 at 5p.m.
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