The Lady Rustlers traveled to Torrington this weekend to face the only other conference opponent without a win in region play. Eastern Wyoming got hot early, hitting 7 3's in the first half. "Our scout was to trust the numbers. They only have 8 players, they shoot under 24% on the season for 4 3's a game. Let them shoot from outside while protecting the paint. We just need to trust it." This came to fruition as the Lancers of EWC went 1-16 from the perimeter in the 2nd half. The Lady Rustlers were led by Criselle Mendoza who went 5-10 from 3 to finish with 15 on the night, with sophomore Kalista Niu finishing with 10 points. Sophomore Ivana Bijic finished with 8 points and 7 boards while freshman Hadyn Collie contributed 8 points and brought down 4 boards. 

 

"We could not bring the entire scout together, and that has been our problem all year. We need to do 2-3 things to win games, and we only do 1-2. The second half of our scout was to contain their best player in the paint. We didn't do that, allowing her to score 20 points and grab 15 rebounds. We say, do what we ask you to do and the victories will belong to you and the losses to me. So, until they do that, the losses belong to them," stated Coach Westmoreland.

 

The Lady Rustlers fell late to EWC 58-51, remaining winless in conference play. 

 

Saturday, versus LCCC the Rustlers, were not able to find a basket early. Going 9-35 from the floor in the first half, the Rustlers went into the locker room at half down 46-26. "Our first quarter drought really demoralized us. LCCC couldn't guard our ball movement. We had open shot after open shot that would clank off of the rim or miss completely. We just weren't focused on finishing possessions," commented Westmoreland.

 

The second half didn't improve much as LCCC size and length frustrated the smaller Rustlers as they eventually fell 84-51. "We don't handle size well, with our lack of it, as well as our depth. Then you add on the officiating we dealt with all weekend, it just gets frustrating. We try to keep our heads on straight and not get caught up in it, but at a certain point, enough is enough and our girls hit that tipping point on Saturday. In no way did we lose due to officiating, but it is very clear that we are going to be covered differently than every other team in the region so we have to find a way to work through it," said Coach Westmoreland.

 

Kalista Niu led the Rustlers with 20 points and 12 rebounds, both career highs for the Australian native. Sophomore Ivana Bijic from Serbia followed with 12 points and 7 rebounds. 

 

The Rustlers end their road travels this Wednesday at Casper, and are back at home Saturday for their rematch with Eastern Wyoming College.