ROCK SPRINGS, WY – The Laramie County Community College women's basketball team couldn't make a strong start stand up on Saturday afternoon, falling to Western Nebraska Community College 80-61 on the second day of the Western Invitational.
The Golden Eagles (2-2) had success and the advantage often in the first quarter, jumping out to a 5-0 lead and maintaining that for the duration of the quarter until a late basket by WNCC (4-1) brought the Cougars to within three entering the break down 18-15.
"We came out and took care of the ball early but in the second quarter we allowed them to get out in transition which is what they want to do," McWilliams said.
Western Nebraska went on a 9-2 run to start the second quarter to go up 24-20. A three from the Golden Eagles ended the run and brought LCCC within one, but that would be the closest they would get for the rest of the game.
The Cougars outscored LCCC 30-13 in the second quarter to take a 45-31 lead into halftime and only grew the lead in the third quarter to lead by as much as 23 until a 5-2 run by the Golden Eagles cut it back to 62-42 going into the fourth quarter.
The rally for the Golden Eagles did carry a big of weight for a while, closing the game to 73-61 with just three minutes remaining and it looked like LCCC might have a chance at a comeback.
Western Nebraska scored the final seven points of the game and closed out the win 80-61.
"When you dig such a big hole it's tough to get out of," McWilliams said. "At the same time, we do show signs and stretches where we can be a really good team. It's just trying to figure out how to put together 40 minutes."
LCCC was led by a 20-point, 10-rebound double double from Blanche Toualeu to lead three Golden Eagles in double digits.
"(Blanche) has a very important role and she can impact the stat sheet in a lot of different categories," McWilliams said. "Every game it doesn't matter who she sees, she is going to find a way to help contribute to the cause."
Kelly MeGowan added 18 points and Lylah Spring picked up 12 more.
Turnovers were a big part of the loss. The Golden Eagles had nine more turnovers than WNCC and only had four steals to the Cougars 13.
Shooting was also in the favor of WNCC where they hit 45 percent of their field goals while LCCC finished shooting just 36 percent from the field and only 26.7 percent from beyond the three-point line.
The next games for the Golden Eagles come on Friday, November 17th when they travel to Price, Utah for a tournament hosted by Utah State University – Eastern. LCCC will face the host team at 5:00 pm on Friday before a rematch with Snow College on Saturday at 11:00 am.
More information including streaming access can be found at www.golccc.com.