Women's Basketball Falls at Trinidad

Women's basketball return from Trinidad, Colorado, where they competed in the Trinidad Classic. The Tigers lost their first game against the Trinidad State Trojans, 44-74, on Friday, and then lost their second game, 63-70, against the Otero Rattlers on Saturday.

Game vs. Trinidad State College

The Trojans wasted no time, as they got off to an early lead over the Tigers, 13-4, as FHNW struggled to keep possession of the ball. The game would remain fairly gridlocked until the last three minutes, as Trinidad was able to extend their lead back out to 10 points by the end of the first quarter, with the score at 25-15. The Tigers would struggle to execute on offense as the Trojans went on a 6-0 run before Tech called a quick timeout. Fatima Gloria would score a quick shot, jump-starting the Tigers' offense; however, it would be short-lived as Trinidad would outscore FHNW 16 to 7, with the score at halftime, 22-41 in favor of the Trojans.

Not much would change for the Tigers coming out of halftime, as they again struggled to get anything going on offense. Tech would have 10 turnovers in the third quarter alone, allowing the Trojans to further increase their lead, 56-31, to end the quarter. Tech would start to get going a little bit on offense in the fourth; however, they were still plagued by turnovers, and Trinidad continued to take advantage of that as they still outscored FHNW, 18-13, in the fourth quarter. 

The Tigers struggled to get their offense going throughout the game, which was thanks in no small part to their 33 turnovers. However, the real difference was points off turnovers, with Trinidad State scoring 32 points, whereas Tech was only able to get 10 points off of 25 turnovers. One other huge stat discrepancy was when it came to scoring points in the paint, with Trinidad scoring 38 points to Tech's 10. One bright spot for the Tigers was Sarah Elfrey, who scored 8 points with 10 rebounds and 5 blocks. Another thing the Tigers seemed to do a good job of is drawing fouls on shots, as they racked up a total of 28 free throws.

Game vs. Otero Junior College

The Tigers would have a much closer game against Otero, as the game went back and forth with the Rattlers remaining just ahead with the score at 18-19 at the end of the first quarter. Otero would start to get going on offense as they went on a 10-3 run midway through the quarter, putting them up by 10 points. The half would end with Otero leading 43-32. 

The Tigers were finally able to get things going coming out of halftime, as they would proceed to outscore the Rattlers 25-15, thanks in no small part to Torri Logan, with 14 points alone. Tech would succeed in cutting Otero's lead to just one point as the quarter would end 57-58. The fourth quarter would see much slower scoring for both teams, with Otero holding FHNW to just six points. Tech also battled hard, holding the Rattlers to only 12 points. In the end, Tech would come up short as OJC was able to claim their first victory. 

Overall, the Tigers had a much improved game, with two players, Torrai Logan and Dekeira Clay, in double figures with 24 and 20 points respectively. Al'asia Brown also had a good game, leading the way with 11 rebounds in addition to 9 points. The real difference in the game came down to rebounds, with Otero outrebounding Tech Northwest 51 to 31, with 20 of those being offensive rebounds, setting up many second-chance points for the Rattlers. Elsewhere, the Tigers did have a good percentage at the free throw line, making 10 of 14, compared to Otero's 12 of 21. Also, strangely, the Tigers shot a higher percentage from beyond the arc than their total field goal percentage, shooting 38 percent from three and 33.3 percent from the field. 

Fort Hays Tech Northwest's next competition will be on Thursday, where they'll have their first home and conference game of the season against Coffeyville Community College.