Casper College Women Win Region IX Basketball Tournament
The Casper College Lady Thunderbirds are the champions of Region IX basketball after defeating Eastern Wyoming on Saturday at the Erickson Gym 71-57. The Birds came into the tournament ranked 15th in the nation and trailed by as many as 8 in the first quarter to EWC. This Lancer team upset #4 Western Nebraska in the semi-final and the T-Birds took advantage of that by winning all 4 quarters and shooting 52% in the 2nd half.
DeJaan Schuler led Casper with 15 while Belen Morales-Lopez and Julia Palomo added 14 each. The Birds did this with their big 3 scorers, Joseana Vaz, Kate Robertson, and Sandra Frau combining for 22 points.
Casper beat Otero and LCCC in the first 2 rounds of the tournament and are 28-4 on the year. They'll await their seed for the National Junior College Tournament that will be in Lubbock, Texas March 16-21. This is the 3rd straight year that the T-Birds have qualified for nationals. Last season, they lost to Three Rivers, Missouri in the first round, the 2020 tournament was canceled due to the pandemic. The T-Birds will be the #14 seed and will take on Hutchinson, Kansas in the first round next Thursday. Hutch is the 19th seed and comes in with a record of 28-5, The Birds are 28-4. Western Nebraska qualified for nationals with an at-large bid and the Cougars snagged the #12 seed.
This will be Casper College's 13th appearance in the NJCAA Tournament and their highest finish was 3rd in 1996 and 4th in 2010.
Casper College Women's Basketball