CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College women's basketball team nearly rallied from a double digit fourth quarter deficit on Tuesday night at home against Northeastern Junior College but fell short 56-51 against the Plainswomen.
"We played well down the stretch, and I thought we gave ourselves opportunities," Head Coach Ayana McWilliams said. "There was a scoring drought early in the fourth and if we get to the free throw line, we have to make those, but I do feel like we fought hard enough to give ourselves a chance down the stretch."
LCCC opened the game with a 4-0 lead, but the Plainswomen responded with an 11-0 run to force a timeout with 6:43 remaining in the first quarter.
The Golden Eagles would settle down the push and the quarter ended with LCCC trailing 18-9.
Defense ruled the next quarter and a scoring drought of nearly four minutes opened the frame and it was enough to bring the Golden Eagles back into the game, only down 27-20 going into the half.
Both teams struggled on offense in the third quarter again as the post presence of both teams locked down on the paint. NJC did push the lead back to 31-21 with a short run to open the quarter but was reeled back in with 1:10 to go on a Jessica Bakhsh three which cut the deficit to only eight.
A new sense of urgency took over for LCCC in the fourth quarter. The defense began to force more turnovers, led by Blanche Toualeu, who finished the game with a team high six steals, and inside Lylah Spring made herself a wall with eight blocks in the game, three of which came in the fourth quarter.
LCCC cut the lead to just two points at 47-45 with 1:35 left in the game and seemed like they had momentum on their side until a three to answer from Genesis Sweetwine on an offensive rebound pushed the lead back to five for the Plainswomen.
"We were able to disrupt, and that's what you started to see at the end," McWilliams said. "We started to force a few turnovers, get out in transition, that's the pace we were looking for coming into this contest."
From there, NJC made their free throws going 6-6 from the line down the stretch to ice the game despite multiple answers from the Golden Eagles to try to close the gap, and LCCC fell by a 56-51 final score.
Spring led the team's offensive effort with 19 points and finished with a double-double by adding 12 rebounds. Toualeu also finished in double digits with 14.
Kelly Megown added a pair of threes and finished with eight and seven of the nine LCCC players to touch the court finished with points.
Both teams turned the ball over 19 times in the game leaving rebounding as the main difference in extra possessions, and NJC was the leader there with 51 total board, including 23 offensive rebounds.
"Coming into the game, our key was being disruptive on the defensive side, and we let them come down and run their stuff," McWilliams said. "If you let the play at that pace, then you definitely have to come down with the rebound."
LCCC did hold NJC to 32.8 percent from the field and just 3-15 from deep, but only shot 37.5 percent themselves in the loss.
The Golden Eagles will continue a tough week of action when they travel to Scottsbluff for a battle with #25 Western Nebraska Community College. They will return home for a game against #17 College of Southern Idaho on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm.
Saturday's game is Luau Day for LCCC athletics, and all fans that wear a Hawaiian shirt to the game will get free entry. More information on the game can be found at www.golccc.com.