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.

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Casper College Women's Basketball

Casper College Women's Basketball

 

Casper College Basketball
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