CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College women's basketball team was up to the challenge on Saturday afternoon when the #17 College of Southern Idaho made the trip to Storey Gym but ran out of steam late as CSI took the matchup of Golden Eagles 81-66 to send LCCC to the semester break with a 6-8 record.
It was CSI that made the first move, pulling away with a 6-0 run in the opening three minutes to claim an 8-2 lead, but LCCC responded well to take their own lead on a 7-0 run, capped off by Blanche Toualeu inside to make it 9-8.
Neither team found much separation in the rest of the first, going to the second quarter with LCCC leading 17-16.
The home team would go on a tear through the next eight minutes, using a steady diet of inside looks to Lylah Spring, who finished the first half with 11 points, to start to pull away. The difference maker was Kelly Megown, who hit a pair of threes late to push the LCCC lead to 39-29 going into the final two possessions of the half, and only a late steal by Taylor Johnson of CSI would cut the lead to single digits going into the break with LCCC up 39-31.
Both teams continued to play heads up in the third quarter, and neither team was able to make any significant runs. That was until CSI increased their defensive intensity in the final three minutes to force multiple turnovers in the back court, leading to a 9-0 run to close the quarter and make it 58-57 gong to the fourth.
The run didn't stop at the quarter break, and CSI would go up 65-58 before LCCC was able to end the run with a pair of baskets from Spring and Toualeu. The pair couldn't stem the tide enough to get LCCC back into the game though, and CSI held the Golden Eagles to just eight points in the fourth quarter, pulling ahead to win 81-66.
LCCC was led by Megown with 17 points, followed closely by Spring with 16 and Toualeu with 15.
The team matched their second most assists in a game this season with 15, seven of which came from Spring for a new career high. Toualeu had six more for a career high as well.
Turnovers were the biggest struggle for LCCC in the game, committing 24 of them, 14 of which came in the second half. CSI only turned the ball over 11 times in the game and had 14 steals.
This all came despite the LCCC team having one of their best games shooting the ball this season, going 54.3 percent from the field and 46.2 percent from three on 6-13 shooting.
LCCC goes into the break with a 6-8 record and will look to rebound when they travel to Trinidad State for a makeup game with the Trojans on January 8th. The Golden Eagles will return to Storey Gym on January 13th for a game with Air Force Prep. More information on the schedule can be found at www.golccc.com.