CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College women's basketball team got off to a hot start in their rematch at home with North Platte Community College but fell off in the second half as they fall for the first time at Storey Gym, 56-55 to the Knights.

Lylah Spring was the offense in the opening minutes for LCCC, going on a 6-0 run herself that was built into a team run of 11-0 in the first five minutes.

The Knights were able to slow down the attack inside by the Golden Eagles and ended the first quarter only down 14-8 and continued to trim into the deficit in the second quarter, whittling it to as little as a two-point lead halfway through. Blanche Toualeu picked up the attack and along with Marija Markovic helped rebuild the lead to 27-20.

North Platte finished the half on an 8-2 run capped off by a three from Mariah Garder as the horn sounded to send the teams to the locker room with LCCC leading 29-28.

Toualeu wouldn't slow down in the third quarter and the first nine points for LCCC came from the freshman's hands. That wasn't great for LCCC as North Platte was able to silence the source of the Golden Eagles points and thanks to a pair of threes from Gardner and Dezjanae Greene, took a 44-42 lead with 1:26 remaining in the third quarter and pushed the lead to 49-42 at the end of three.

The ball began to go back inside more in the fourth quarter for LCCC resulting in more foul shots and the Golden Eagles whittled away the lead to tie the game at 52 on a pair of Spring free throws and again at 54 on a lay in by Toualeu.

With 29.3 on the clock, the Golden Eagles made a defensive stop and had a look at the go ahead basket but turned the ball over and a hustle play on the other end forced a North Platte miss, but LCCC turned the ball over on a pass into the post and gave the Knights the same chance on the other side of the court with 17.8 seconds remaining.

The defense again stood strong for LCCC and Spring was fouled after getting the rebound, making one of two at the line with 9.3 left for the Knights to answer back.

Greene took the ball and with 1.5 seconds left, settled a floater from eight feet into the hoop to put North Platte up 56-55, and a late heave at the horn from Spring glanced just off the backboard to the right of the rim to seal the win for NPCC.

The Golden Eagles were led in the game by Toualeu who finished with a 21 point, 10 rebound double double and was the only LCCC player in double digits in the game. Spring added nine more and Smith-White finished with eight.

Rebounding was controlled by LCCC with a 37-30 advantage in on the glass but North Platte won the turnover battle 27-18 and also had more assists in the game (16-9) to make up for the lack of rebounds.

The Golden Eagles will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when they face off with McCook Community College at Storey Gym with a 2:00 pm opening tip. LCCC defeated McCook 57-50 in their first game this year.

More information can be found at www.golccc.com.