The Central Wyoming College women's basketball team began the second half of their Region 9 conference play at home this past week, and kicked off the final stretch of divisional games against Laramie County Community College on Friday and Eastern Wyoming College on Saturday.  

The Rustlers had previously lost 78-43 to LCCC in Laramie two weeks prior, and aimed to even the series and improve upon their 1-5 record in Region 9 games. They dominated the first quarter of the game, holding the Golden Eagles to 14 points on 35% shooting. But LCCC's adjustments after the first quarter stifled the Rustler's offense to only seven second quarter team points, and shifted the box score back in their favor, 42-26. Laura Ring accounted for 11 of the Rustlers' 26 first half points, and she finished with a game-high 22. Outside of Ring, Natalia Ballin was the only other CWC player with more than 10 points (12). The Rustlers struggled with turnovers all game, amassing 20 over the four quarters which were converted into 23 points for LCCC. Two total made three pointers on 19 attempts failed to help their second half comeback gain any traction as well, and CWC dropped their sixth conference game of the year, with a final score of 81-53. 

Central Wyoming was matched up against EWC the next day, and they came out with a fire lit underneath them. A cohesive offense that spread the scoring to all starters empowered the Rustlers to jump to a 37-34 halftime lead over their divisional opponent, and they even led by as much as 10 in the second quarter. Unfortunately, CWC found themselves in a hole after going cold in the third quarter, surrendering a 22-9 run to Eastern Wyoming. Facing a 10 point deficit at the beginning of the fourth, a massive hot streak from Natalia Ballin helped dig them out. Her 15 points on 7-of-9 shooting in crunch time kept Central Wyoming breathing, and a clutch layup from Sophie Wilkinson with six seconds left boosted the Rustlers above and secured the victory for Central Wyoming, 77-75. They finished the game with a season-high field goal percentage (52.6%), and wrapped up the weekend with their second Region 9 win of the season.