TORRINGTON – The Eastern Wyoming College Lady Lancers opened their home schedule Tuesday evening with a dominating 79-40 win over the Northwest Kansas Tech Mavericks at the Verl Petsch Jr. Activities Center.
Despite the 39-point victory, it was close through the first quarter and a half of play.
The Lady Lancers struggled to find bottom of the bucket but midway through the second quarter things changed.
EWC went scoreless from the final minute of the opening quarter to the 4:30 mark in the second quarter.
“We just, offensively, got off to a slow start,” EWC head coach Tom Andersen said. “We had some good looks and maybe first game jitters at home. We missed a lot of good opportunities to score, but once we got going and made a few hoops and got some breaks going, things started clicking for us offensively.”
During the dry spell, Northwest Kansas took its first and only lead of the evening with 4:37 remaining before half.
On the next possession, the Lady Lancer sophomore guard Abril Rexach Roure put her team back in front 15-14.
The score was the start of a 22-3 run which spanned into the third quarter, giving EWC a 35-17 lead.
“Our guards, right now, are our strength. They set the tone for what’s going on both defensively and offensively,” Andersen said. “We didn’t shoot from the 3 much tonight and didn’t have much success there, but those kids can get to the basket and make other things happen. They are pretty versatile and a big part of our game.”
Throughout the remainder of the second half, the Lady Lancers lead continued to grow, reaching as many as 43 in the fourth quarter behind a balanced attack from both the guards and post players.
“I thought our posts played a lot better in the second half,” Andersen said. “We got it inside and got some scores. We had some really nice post-to-post or post-to-guard passes that got us some layups.”
Sophomore Emily Buchanan led the Lady Lancers with 18 points, while freshman Paula Martinez Sanz added 17. Abril Rexach Roure and Macie Mackey chipped in eight apiece.
The Lady Lancers (2-0) hosts McCook Community College (2-0) at 5:30 p.m. Friday and North Platte (1-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“We are going to have our hands full with those teams,” Andersen said. “We’ll get back to work (Wednesday) and get ready for Friday.”
NWK – 8 9 12 11 — 40
EWC – 13 18 34 14 — 79
Northwest Kansas Tech
Summer Martin 6, Arianna Harper 12, Taylor Watkins 12, Arielle Kenney 2, Kiara Tharpe 1, Jybre Johnson 2, Tajh Gillard 4, Josie Cook 1.
Eastern Wyoming
Abril Rexach Roure 8, Ines Salat Margarit 4, Morning Gambler 2, Macie Mackey 8, McKenzie Becker 6, Emily Buchanan 18, Logan Murphy 2, Kelliann Raff 8, Barbara Trehub 6, Paula Martinez Sanz 17.
