Pronghorn women continue strong play, men lose on late call

Liz Lewis and the Pronghorn women's basketball team are hitting their stride. Whether they are blowing teams out or are in a tight game, whether they're playing at home or on the road, they've found ways to win.

Saturday afternoon, they did it again in a 78-73 win over Northwest College, where they never counted themselves out.

"I saw a lot of resilience in this group," Lewis said. "We did turn the ball over in key, important times, but what I love about this group is that they didn't stop. They continued to battle, and they continued to fight."

Gillette College led 50-46 to end the third quarter, and in the fourth, there was one lead change after another. The Pronghorns scored 28 in the fourth, while the Trappers scored 27.

As the game came down to the final minutes, both coaches used their last timeouts and instructed their teams with plays and sets, but much of that planning went out the window.

Down 71-70 with 54.7 seconds left, Gillette College was starting to get desperate. With the shot clock running down and the ball 30 feet from the basket, Rochelle Afo-Manuma found an open Danae Asiata for the 3-point shot that beat the buzzer and gave the Pronghorns a 73-71 lead.

"I knew the shot clock was counting down," Asiata said. "I was just ready to shoot, and I was able to knock it down."

It's still early in conference play, and the Pronghorns know that, but the win puts Gillette College at the top of the Region IX North conference with a 3-1 record as the schedule only gets tougher.

It was a balanced attack for Gillette College, who had four of their five starters score in double-figures, including Asiata, who had a game-high 20. Kiyarra Williams had 10, Afo-Manuma had 11, and Lina Ballin had 17. Abbie Nickell, off the bench, who continues to see more and more playing time, had 14 points and four three-pointers.

The Pronghorns have won three straight. They are 8-2 at home and will go on the road this week before returning home on Feb. 7.

"It's important that we win at home," Lewis said. "I thought we had a great crowd, and especially with everything going on in town, it's very important to us, and we take a lot of pride in protecting our home court."

Pronghorn men

For the men, it was another gutsy performance Saturday night. The Pronghorns and Trappers were in an intense, low-scoring defensive battle.

Tied 58-58 with seconds left, it looked like the game was headed to overtime period. Until it wasn't.

The Pronghorns turned it over on their last possession, and Northwest College called a timeout. As the Trappers crossed half court, Sayed Sayed poked at the ball trying to prevent a last-second shot.

As the clock expired, the referees deemed the contact from Sayed enough for a foul, giving the Trappers two shots with 0.4 seconds left on the clock. Making both free throws, Gillette tried a last-second tip shot, but was nowhere close, losing 60-58.

Head coach Shawn Neary let the officials know he was upset with the call, but there was nothing more he could do. The loss drops the Pronghorns to 9-10 on the season. It's their first home loss in their last 24 games at the Pronghorn Center.

The Pronghorns will not return home until Feb. 7 to take on Western Wyoming College.