STERLING, CO – The Laramie County Community College struggled to find their rhythm on offense in the opening game back from break, falling 71-55 to #25 Northeastern Junior College on Thursday night.
"Simply put the better team won," Head Coach Ayana McWilliams said. "From start to finish they dominated the game. They were the better team and wanted it more for and for 38 minutes of the game it was all them."
The Golden Eagles opened the game with a strong push inside to go up 6-0 in the opening four minutes. The offense cooled off quickly though, and NJC began to heat up from beyond the arc, making five threes in the first quarter to close the frame on a 20-6 run.
The run carried into the second quarter with NJC building the lead to as much as 13 at 27-12. LCCC did cut it back to single digits with three minutes to go but the Plainswomen closed the frame out with another run, this time 7-2 and went to the half leading 34-18.
An early 5-0 run by LCCC to open the second half was keyed by Tyra Lovelock and the Golden Eagles looked to build on the momentum.
Unfortunately, the three-point shooting for NJC didn't slow down as they used the outside shot to go on a run to close out the third quarter with a 53-35 lead.
LCCC made a push in the final quarter to rally back after the Plainswomen pushed the lead to a game high 22 at 60-38.
An 8-0 run from the Golden Eagles trimmed the lead back to 14 going into the media timeout but the Plainswomen again rallied to push it back to 66-46 with 2:34 remaining.
The offense for LCCC closed the gap with some late work at the free throw line but fell to open the 2024 slate, 71-55.
The team was led by Lylah Spring who finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds. Spring was the only Golden Eagle to get to double figures, followed by Blanche Toualeu with eight points and nine rebounds and a seven-point game from Lovelock, all of which came in the second half.
The Plainswomen were on fire from three in the first half but only finished the game with eight from deep, but LCCC struggled from three as well, only making 2-13 in the game.
LCCC was outrebounded 48-24 in the game and that included 18 offensive rebounds from NJC which resulted in 20 second chance points.
The schedule has the Golden Eagles returning home for their next two games with Air Force Prep set for Saturday, January 13th before the opening game of Region IX North action against Gillette College on the 16th. More information on both games can be found at www.golccc.com.