It was a battle to the final seconds in the Region IX women's basketball tournament championship game Saturday afternoon at Cougar Palace as the No. 15 Casper College Thunderbirds battled the Western Wyoming Community College Mustangs.

                In the end it was the Thunderbirds that hit two free throws by Sandra Frau-Garcia with 7.2 and 0.6 seconds to play to give Casper the 62-60 win and their fourth regional title in six years over the Mustangs.

                The win sends Casper to the NJCAA National Tournament in Lubbock, Texas, March 22-27 while Western Wyoming ends their season. The last time Western Wyoming was in the championship was 2014 when they finished runner-up and the last time the Mustangs won a regional title was in back-to-back years in 1980 and 1981.

                Saturday's game was a battle. Casper led 6-0 to start only to watch Western Wyoming score 11 straight for an 11-6 lead. Casper ended the quarter on back-to-back treys by Joslin Igo for a 17-15 lead after one.

                The second quarter saw Casper outscore Western Wyoming 16-8 as Casper pushed the lead to 29-19 on a Julia Palomo trey and led 33-23 at halftime.

                The third quarter saw Casper lead 41-33 on a Palomo trey. Western Wyoming fought back as they sliced the lead to 41-39 with a Kayde Strauss and got to within a point, 45-44 on a Strauss old-fashioned 3-point play. Casper hit a late bucket to lead 47-44 at the end of three periods.

                The fourth quarter saw Casper lead by 10 points on an Ana Csenyi bucket, but the Mustangs fought back, tying the game at 56-56 with 2:22 to play on a Strauss 3-pointer. Casper's Logann Alver answered with a bucket for Casper for a 58-56 lead. Emma Patik tied the game at 58 with 48 seconds to play. Alver came down and got a bucket for a Casper 60-58 lead with 32.3 seconds left.

                Western Wyoming responded back as Kayla Thornton field goal with 21.1 to play tied the game at 60-60 with overtime in site. Casper was playing for the last shot, but Western Wyoming fouled with 12 seconds. But, because the Mustangs were not in the bonus yet, Casper inbounded the ball from the sidelines. Casper was fouled with 7.2 seconds as Frau-Garcia made just one of two.

                Western Wyoming had a chance for a chance to take the lead or win the game as they inbounded the ball with 6.7 seconds, but strong defense by Casper forced a turnover and Western fouled. Frau-Garcia made one of two free throws with .6 seconds and that was enough for the win.

                Casper had three players in double figures. Alver and Igo each had 15 points while Palomo had 13.

                Western Wyoming had three in double digits as well, led by Thornton with 18 followed by Strauss with 17 and Patik with 12.

                After the game, medals and awards were handed out. The 16-team All-tournament was announced and four players from Casper and Western Wyoming were each on the team. Those from Casper on the team included Frau-Garcia, Palomo, Alvar, and Goed. Those from Western Wyoming included Strauss, Thornton, Ashelynn Birch, and Tamryn Blom.

                Other members of the All-Tournament team included WNCC's Mackenzie Joseph, Northwest's Kamber Good Luck, NJC's Bailee Hart, Otero's Hedde Kohne, Trinidad State's Mya Williams and Yie Exposito-Perez, and Laramie County's Monique Marcetic-Vaotangi and Halle Hester.

                The All-Region and All-defensive teams were also announced.

                Those on the south included WNCC's Jayla Owen, Shiho Isono, and Ola Duda; McCook's Taryn Lindsey and Vanessa Jurewicz; NJC's Saneya Martinez; Otero's Kohne, Katia Nekic, and Gia Bradley; and Trinidad's Exposito-Perez.

                North All-Region players included Casper's Igo and Frau-Garcia; Western Wyoming's Thornton and Strauss; EWC's Ines Gnahore; Northwest's Roxanne Rogers and Darla Hernandez; and LCCC's Hester, Jamy de Kock, and Lylah Spring.

                The South All-defensive team included WNCC's Yara Garcia, Trinidad's Williams, Otero's Kone, NJC's Jailyn Potts, and McCook's Gemma Gruettner Bacoul.

                The North All-defensive team included Casper's Palomo, Western Wyoming's Thornton, EWC's Neylan Vila Delicado, LCCC's Spring, and Northwest's Hernandez.

                The North coach of the year was Casper's Dwight Gunnare and the South coach of the year was Isaac Lu.

Casper                  17 16 14 15 – 62
W. Wyoming      15 8 23 16 – 60

CASPER
Celina Arnlund 2, Logann Alver 15, Flora Goed 4, Sandra Frau-Garcia 9, Julia Palomo 13, Ana Csenyi 4. Joslin Igo 15.

WESTERN WYOMING
Kayde Strauss 17, Emma Patik 12, Hannah Harris 2, Ashelynn Birch 5, Kayla Thornton 18, Tamryn Blom 4, Tayana Crowder 2.