NORTH PLATTE, NE – The Laramie County Community College women's basketball team rallied from a double digit first quarter deficit to win their opening contest of the season 56-52 over North Platte Community College on Friday night.
"At the end of the day, I couldn't have asked for a better outing," Head Coach Ayana McWilliams said. "It was good that we were challenged and now we see how we have to play so I think it was good for everybody overall."
The first quarter was anything but a dream start for LCCC. The offense had success getting the ball inside but had trouble converting shots. That paired with a hot shooting start for the Knights had LCCC down 17-5 going into the second quarter.
The LCCC defense began to stem the tide, holding North Platte to just 11 points in the second quarter and the offense went on a late flurry to close the gap to six at 28-21 going into the half.
"I think we had a mindset change," McWilliams explained about the difference between the first and the second quarters. "We knew coming in that we were going to have to defend and that was the key to the win for us. They made us elevate our level of play and get stops and luckily for us we got them when we needed them."
It was more defense leading to offense for the Golden Eagles in the second half and the Knights couldn't solve the adjustments by LCCC surrendering some of their lead going into the fourth after LCCC outscored them 16-14.
The offense and defense continued to whir for LCCC in the fourth quarter, but by then North Platte had regained their stride and the lead, keeping just ahead of the Golden Eagles until the 3:20 mark when LCCC took their first lead of the game 48-47.
The next two possessions for NPCC resulted in a free throw and a two-point basket to give the Knights the 50-48 lead but LCCC tied it on a pair of Kelly MeGowan free throws.
McGowan also finished with three triples in the game and led the team in scoring and McWilliams said her shooting makes a difference.
"Kelly is probably one of the better shooters I've seen in a long time, and I think when it's all said and done one of the better shooters to have come through LCCC. She hit some really big ones for us on some really key possessions for her."
From there, the Golden Eagles defense stood strong, only allowing one more basket to North Platte for the remainder of the game and clinched a 56-52 road victory to open the season.
MeGowan led the Golden Eagles in scoring with 15 and was followed closely by Lylah Spring who finished with 14. Spring also had a double-double with 10 rebounds in the game and three steals.
LCCC shot 40 percent from the field in the contest but was lights out from three, shooting 47 percent on 8 of 17 from beyond the arc.
The team will travel south to McCook Community College on Saturday afternoon with opening tip set for 1:00 PM Mountain Time. Streaming information can be found online at www.golccc.com.