TORRINGTON, WY – The Laramie County Community College women's basketball team earned their 19th win of the season on Saturday afternoon with a convincing 74-53 win over Eastern Wyoming College, tying a school record for wins in the process and keeping their hopes of a possible two seed in the Region IX tournament alive.
The game started out a little back and forth but the Golden Eagles were able to hold off several charges from the Lancers in the first half and never trailed after jumping in front on a three from Shannon Niles that spurred an 8-0 run before EWC would answer.
The three ball was the difference in the first half for LCCC and the 6-12 shooting helped to overcome a 4-22 start from inside the line in the first half and the Golden Eagles went to the half in front 36-26.
Head Coach Ayana McWilliams said the team buying into what she has preached all season long.
"It's been great having players that can do a little bit of everything but what's even bigger is when they buy into whatever the game plan is. We like to play inside out, outside in, and we got several attempts at two which wasn't going down for us but it opened up the three ball and we were able to shoot with confidence so it worked out."
The second half was a different story.
Laramie County was propelled by a strong presence inside from Lylah Spring who had 11 points in the third quarter alone and finished with a game high 18 for Laramie County, pushing the lead to 59-40 at the start of the fourth.
"In the first half I was struggling a lot," Spring said, "but in the second half I just kept going up and my shots did drop, and my teammates found me really well tonight. My confidence really builds when I do start to make a few of those."
Head Coach Ayana McWilliams went into her bench for much of the fourth, using several platoon swaps to alleviate minutes for the team and the Golden Eagles cruised through the fourth to a 74-53 win.
"We know that we are a really good team and we can beat anyone really," Spring said. "We just focus on the little things that it does take to win games."
Spring was joined in double digits by Monique Marcetic-Vaotangi's 13 and Halle Hester's 10. In all, nine of the ten Golden Eagles to play found the bottom of the basket at least once.
"I don't come in focused on getting this person this many shots or this person this many touches," McWilliams said. "We share the ball and move it from one hand to the next and if it finds you, it finds you.
LCCC was able to also win the rebounding battle 39-34, including a plus-4 advantage on the offensive glass and their defense held the Lancers to only 34.5 percent from the field and just 22 percent from three.
The win moves the Golden Eagles to 5-4 on the season in conference play and sets them up with a chance to force a three-way tie for the second seed in the North if Western Wyoming defeats Northwest on Monday and LCCC can follow up with a win on Tuesday over the Trappers on sophomore night.
The Golden Eagles also have a chance to set a record for wins in a season on Tuesday, and Spring said that success comes from the bond the team has.
"I think we gel together really well. We know how to find each other and we stick together really well for the 40 minutes of the game. I think that's really what makes us successful as a group. We're always together just building that team chemistry."
"My hat goes off to my team and their resiliency all year," McWilliams added. "I'm just super excited for them to see the type of success that they are having."
The game with Northwest College is scheduled for 5:30 pm on Tuesday night from Storey Gym.