TRAPPER WOMEN EXTEND WIN STREAK

BY SETH ROMSA TRIBUNE SPORTS WRITER
Courtesy of the Powell Tribune

A pair of dominant wins for the Northwest College women's basketball team over the College of Spokane 76-51 and Bellevue College 87-41 on Friday and Saturday pushed the team's win streak to six in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.       

NORTHWEST 76, COLLEGE OF SPOKANE 51
Competing in Idaho and hoping to continue their win streak the Trappers (6-1) took on the Sasquatch (0-2).
The College of Spokane came out strong, building an 8-0 lead and holding that until midway through the first quarter.
Northwest finally got on the board on an Isabella Williams jumper, as the Trappers fought back before the end of the first and tied the game on a Madison Kaufman 3-pointer to make it 10-10 heading into the second quarter.
"We had a timeout and just kind of recalibrated a little bit," coach Cody Helenbolt said. "Always tough with the long travel and everything that goes with it, and it just felt like it kind of impacted us at the beginning of that game."
The Trappers took the lead early in the second quarter on a McKinlee Covolo free throw, as Northwest expanded upon that advantage throughout the second quarter.
Northwest built its lead to 33-24 at the break, before fully breaking the game open in the third quarter.
Covolo's free throw with 7:44 left in the third quarter made it a double digit game at 36-26, a margin the Trappers didn't dip below the remainder of the contest.
Kaufman's 3-pointer with 1:54 left made it a 50-28 game, but the Sasquatch trimmed the lead down slightly to 52-34 heading into the fourth quarter.
Northwest led by as many as 25 in the fourth quarter, and finished with that margin in a 76-51 victory.
The Trappers used turnovers to create separation in the game, committing 16 compared to 27 for the Sasquatch and scoring 32 points off those turnovers compared to 11 for Spokane.
"Defense is offense, it's something we tell them, you've got to do one to get the other one," Helenbolt said. "We were able to jump some passing lanes and put pressure on the opposing ball handlers. Just made life tough — your defense is never going to be perfect. You're not going to shut people out, but you've just got to try to disrupt and make life harder on the other team. And we did a good job of doing that."
Emma Pique led with 16 points, Williams and Covolo had 11 each and Itziar Pozas added 10.
Fallon Millican led with seven rebounds, Pique led with six steals, three assists and tied Covolo for the team lead in blocks with two.   

NORTHWEST 87, BELLEVUE COLLEGE 41
The Trappers took on the Bulldogs (0-2) in an attempt to extend the win streak to six.
Neither team scored well to start the game, before the Trappers broke open a 5-5 deadlock and ended the first quarter on an 11-0 run capped off by a Canyon Britt free throw to make it 16-5 heading into the second.
"We had three points in the first seven minutes and then we scored 84 points in the next 33 minutes. So it doesn't make sense sometimes, but we figured it out and stuck with it," Helenbolt said.
Again the Trappers did not relinquish the double digit advantage, quickly pushing the scoreline out to more than 20 after a Kaufman jump shot with 4:56 left made it a 28-7 game.
Northwest led comfortably 40-11 heading into halftime.
The Trappers hit a 30 point advantage with 6:16 left in the third on a Pique jump shot, leading 48-18.
After the third Northwest had doubled up Bellevue, and led 64-32 heading into the fourth.
The largest lead of the game hit 49, as Northwest again took advantage of turnovers to outscore Bellevue 33-8 in points off turnovers.
"Defense was kind of the key, and then I thought we passed the ball better in that game than we had passed probably up until that point. So hopefully that's something we can continue to do, because when we just find the open person and pass the ball like that we're really tough to stop," Helenbolt said.
Northwest also held the Bulldogs to poor shooting, at 14-62 (22.6%) from the field and 2-27 (7.4%) from 3-point range.
Covolo led with 20 points, while Pique and Millican each had 11 as the other Trappers in double figures.
Addison Hickey and Jaila Childress led with six rebounds each, Pique led with seven steals and five assists.
"She's (Pique) been just a blessing for the program. I got her recruited super late, and she's done nothing but do everything that's asked of her for a year and a half now. It's just awesome when you can bring in a kid that does everything right in the classroom, does everything right basketball wise. She's super smart," Helenbolt said. "We adjusted something in our defense in that second game, and I think she immediately did it and I think she got a steal the next three times down the floor. It's just so nice when you can just tell the kid 'hey, try this' and then they immediately are able to translate that to the game."     

BUSY WEEK AHEAD
The Trappers now return home for the first time this season, hosting a top ranked team, the Coach Collins Heart of a Champion Classic, as well as an early week game to complete four games in a six day stretch.
Northwest starts by welcoming in the NJCAA No. 6 ranked team in the country, Eastern Arizona College (4-1), today (Thursday) at 5:30 p.m.
"Just getting close to the point where we can just start enjoying being home and get these teams scouted out and film watched. It's exciting to have such a highly ranked team coming in. It's going to be an intense game on Thursday," Helenbolt said. "Which I love, I'm really looking forward to seeing how our kids respond. I'm hoping they just love it and respond great and step up to the challenge."
The Trappers then host United Tribes Technical College (5-3) at 5:30 p.m. on Friday and Williston State College (6-1) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Northwest ends its busy week on Tuesday, hosting the Rocky Mountain JV at 5:30 p.m. before taking a break over Thanksgiving.
"I've told them, push hard for the next week and then you get a break and you can go home," Helenbolt said. "A lot of them are going home for Thanksgiving so it'll be nice. Push really hard and then get a little time off, because then when we come back, it's going to be the same thing [busy]."   

NORTHWEST 76, COLLEGE OF SPOKANE 51
Total rebounds then offensive rebounds in ()
Points — Emma Pique 16, Isabella Williams 11, McKinlee Covolo 11, Itziar Pozas 10, Madison Kaufman 9, Addison Hickey 5, Jaila Childress 5, Canyon Britt 3, Fallon Millican 3, Taylee Carlson 2, Maddie Mills 1
Rebounds — Fallon Millican 7 (1), Isabella Williams 6 (2), McKinlee Covolo 6 (5), Emma Pique 4, Jaila Childress 4, Itziar Pozas 3 (3), Addison Hickey 2 (1), Taylee Carlson 2 (1), Saige Kidd 1
Assists — Emma Pique 3, Isabella Williams 2, Itziar Pozas 2, Fallon Millican 2, Canyon Britt 1, Madison Kaufman 1, Taylee Carlson 1
Steals — Emma Pique 6, Isabella Williams 4, Itziar Pozas 3, Madison Kaufman 3, Taylee Carlson 3, Addison Hickey 1, Jaila Childress 1, Fallon Millican 1, McKinlee Covolo 1
Blocks — Emma Pique 2, McKinlee Covolo 2, Itziar Pozas 1      

NORTHWEST 87, BELLEVUE COLLEGE 41
Points — McKinlee Covolo 20, Emma Pique 11, Fallon Millican 11, Madison Kaufman 9, Itziar Pozas 9, Jaila Childress 7, Isabella Williams 6, Elise Swan 5, Canyon Britt 5, Addison Hickey 3, Taylee Carlson 1
Rebounds — Addison Hickey 6, Jaila Childress 6 (2), Taylee Carlson 5, Isabella Williams 4 (2), Madison Kaufman 4 (2), McKinlee Covolo 3 (1), Fallon Millican 3 (1), Emma Pique 2, Itziar Pozas 2, Maddie Mills 1 (1), Saige Kidd 1
Assists — Emma Pique 5, Addison Hickey 3, Isabella Williams 2, Madison Kaufman 2, Jaila Childress 1, Fallon Millican 1
Steals — Emma Pique 7, Addison Hickey 3, Isabella Williams 3, Jaila Childress 2, McKinlee Covolo 2, Elise Swan 2, Itziar Pozas 2