PRICE, UT – In their first game of the season against a ranked opponent, the Laramie County Community College women's basketball team struggled on the offensive side as they dropped their third in a row to #15 Utah State University – Eastern on Friday night, 63-32.
"We just have to be better. There is no other way around it," Head Coach Ayana McWilliams said.
The opening quarter got off to a slow start after USU Eastern jumped out to an 11-2 run in the first 5:19 seconds forcing a timeout from McWilliams to calm the team down. The run continued for on the next possession out of the timeout until a Lylah Spring three ended the run and made it 13-5.
LCCC gave up a pair of threes in the final three minutes, but their defense slowed down Eastern's attack for the most part and ended the quarter down 19-8.
Neither team was able to find much success on offense in the opening minutes of the second quarter until offensive rebounds for USU Eastern began to allow them to extend their lead with five minutes left in the half and a pair of threes at the end of the half pushed USU Eastern to a 39-14 lead after 20 minutes.
The Golden Eagles gave up a 13-0 run to open the second half and didn't score their first basket until 3:22 remaining in the third quarter when Alba Garrido-Lamas made a layup to make the score 52-16.
"Alba is a kid that is always going to compete and be ready," McWilliams said. "It's on me to make sure I give her more chances and more opportunities."
A slower paced offense opened the fourth quarter and that allowed LCCC to settle back into more of an offensive rhythm, which in turn resulted in their best offensive quarter of the game.
The defense for LCCC also played its best quarter of the night, holding USU Eastern to 10 points and a late three by Kelly MeGowan finished the scoring with the Golden Eagles falling 63-32.
LCCC was led in the game by Spring who was the only Golden Eagle to finish in double digits with 10 points to go with seven rebounds. Blanche Toualeu and Tamara Smith-White added five each on a night when the team finished 11-53 from the field and 7-17 from the free throw line.
The Golden Eagles did win the turnover 15-14 but the major difference came in rebounding where USU Eastern doubled up LCCC 61-30 in the game.
"Simply put, they just wanted it more," McWilliams said. "We knew that they were going to crash the boards and make those hustle plays, and they just wanted the ball more than we did."
There isn't much time to think about this one for LCCC as they return to action at 11:00 am on Saturday morning against Snow College in the second game of the weekend trip to Utah.
"We just have to have amnesia. This game was not the best basketball we have ever played and we have to find a way to come tomorrow with a renewed sense and find a way to compete for 40 minutes at the very least," McWilliams said.
Earlier this season LCCC fell to Snow College 77-67 in Rock Springs as they look for revenge in their second neutral site battle with the Badgers. Streaming information can be found at www.golccc.com.