CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College women's basketball team was seconds away from upsetting the #17 Casper College Thunderbirds at Storey Gym on Wednesday night but would fall in overtime 70-68 in a thrilling Region IX conference game.
"I asked them to find their energy, to find their reason why, and find a way to play 40 complete minutes and I thought we did a hell of a job doing that tonight. We just came up a little short," Head Coach Ayana McWilliams said.
The two sides were quiet offensively in the first quarter after the Golden Eagles jumped out to the quick 2-0 lead but went on a six-minute scoring drought where the defense fought to keep them close with the lead only growing to 7-2.
"Obviously you are going to have those little droughts but we just kept pushing and didn't drop our heads," freshman post Lylah Spring said. "We kept driving and shooting and they did fall when we needed them too."
The Golden Eagles closed the quarter on a 9-0 run to claim a four-point lead going into the second quarter and would grow that lead to double digits before settling for the 31-23 lead at the half.
The Thunderbirds came out with a new game plan in the second half, changing from an outside focused attack to getting their posts involved more and the lead was chiseled into by the Casper to the point of tying the game at 44 all in the late third quarter and the Golden Eagles lead was down to 48-44 entering the fourth.
The fourth quarter was an intense back and fourth affair and neither LCCC or Casper were able to get further than 4 points away from the other through the quarter in a half that featured 11 ties and 5 lead changes and eventually would be forced to overtime after the Thunderbirds hit a last second shot that tied the game at 61 each.
Casper took the early control in the final five-minute period getting the opening two baskets and eventually building the lead to six.
LCCC whittled the lead back to three with 4.1 seconds remaining and had a last second look from Monique Marcetic-Voatangi that just glanced off the rim from half court which would have send the game to overtime leaving the Golden Eagles just short of the upset win 70-68.
Spring was the offensive leader for Laramie County with 28 points including 18 of the teams 22 points in the fourth quarter and overtime. She would finish with a 13-rebound double-double and added three more blocks to her school record of 44.
"We've always known she had the potential," McWilliams said of the strong performances since the winter break by Spring. "It's just a shift in focus now. Focusing on what she brings to the table and making sure she shows up and punches the clock every night."
Shannon Niles posted her first double-double as a Golden Eagle with 11 points and 10 rebounds and led the team in steals with three. No others finished in double digits, but Nikola Kuzmanovic had six assists to go with five from Jamy de Kock and the team had 18 as a group in a strong night passing the ball.
"I think it was a really big team effort," Spring said. "Everyone found their spot tonight on the court no matter where it was. Whether it was cheering, finding people inside, shooting, driving the ball, we found each other really well tonight."
"We haven't had double figure assists in a while now. When we share the ball and move the ball around like that we have some success," McWilliams said.
The four game homestand for the Golden Eagles wraps up this Saturday when Central Wyoming comes to Cheyenne with game time set for 4:00 pm from Storey Gym. Tickets for the game are available at www.golccc.com.