LADY BADGERS TAKE CEU GOLDEN EAGLES
by Kevin White

Lady Badgers Win Seventh Consecutive

EPHRAIM - The Scenic West Athletic Conference (SWAC) heated up Saturday night in Ephraim as the College of Eastern Utah (CEU) came to the College Gymnasium for a rivalry showdown with the Snow College Badgers. A year ago CEU beat Snow three of four times including knocking off the Lady Badgers in the first round of last year’s SWAC tournament. Saturday night the Lady Badgers got a bit of revenge knocking off the pesky Lady Golden Eagles 79-73.

With the win the Lady Badgers notched their seventh consecutive victory and 10 or their last 11 and moved to a league-leading 3-0 start. They also improved to 12-6 overall coming within one victory of matching last season’s total victories.

In a game of mini-runs it wasn’t until Sophomore Shalyee Nielsen hit a runner in the lane to give Snow a 77-73 lead with 35 seconds remaining that helped lift the Lady Badgers to the victory.

“It wasn’t pretty but we’ll take it,” said Coach Cindy Lindsay. “I am proud of the way our kids battled. We needed a game like that to keep us sharp and help us understand we can close out games.”

Nielsen continued her stellar play leading the Lady Badgers with 20 points. Sophomore Torle Nenbee pitched in with 18 points including 12 in the second half.

A night after 13 Lady Badgers played and 11 scored, Lindsay’s squad relied on their starters for the majority of the game. However it was reserve Sophomore Taesha Higbee’s 3-point shot with 7:18 remaining that stopped a 9-0 Lady Golden Eagle run and gave the Lady Badgers a 60-59 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

Snow pushed the lead to 69-63, but CEU forward Ande Miller’s three with 4:08 remaining closed the gap to 3. Snow’s Freshman point guard Abbie Beutler then scored five consecutive points to push the lead back to six and the Badgers were able to close it out.

Next up for the Lady Badgers is a pivotal road trip against perennial power College of Southern Idaho in Twin Falls on Thursday and then on to North Idaho College on Saturday. The Lady Badgers return home on January 30-31 to face off against Salt Lake Community College.