CHEYENNE, WY – A scoring drought in the third quarter was too much for the Laramie County Community College women's basketball team on Friday night as they fell to the Northwest College Trappers 68-56 at Storey Gym, falling to 10-13 on the season and 3-4 in conference play.
LCCC and the Trappers traded leads through much of the first half, along with big runs, starting with an 8-0 push from NWC to go ahead by a game high lead of 12-8 heading into the first media timeout. The Golden Eagles, behind seven first quarter points from Blanche Toualeu, would answer back to even the game on a 6-2 run of their own, heading to the second quarter tied at 14 all.
Both teams traded threes to start the second quarter, but it was the Trappers who would establish the early lead going up 24-21, only to see LCCC push back with a 7-0 run of their own, much in part because of another seven-point quarter from Toualeu.
The first half finished with LCCC trading leads with the Trappers until they took a 33-30 advantage into the break.
In the third quarter, the both teams traded opening threes, but up 36-33, LCCC saw the offense go dry for the next eight minutes while they watched the Trappers push ahead, going on a 13-3 run into a timeout by Head Coach Ayana McWilliams with 5:30 remaining.
Neither team scored for the next three minutes until the Northwest offense added another 8-0 run to their quarter to go up 51-36 until a Tamara Smith-White layup closed the quarter to bring LCCC back within 13.
NWC built the lead up to 18 in the opening minutes of the final quarter, going ahead 58-40 but that would be the high-water mark for the Trappers who watch as Tyra Lovelock joined Toualeu in chipping away at the lead to close within 62-53 with three and a half minutes left.
Unfortunately for the Golden Eagles, the Trappers always seemed to have the answer to the run and kept pushing the lead back to double figures on the way to closing the game out with a 68-56 win forcing the season split and dropping LCCC to 3-4 in Region IX North action.
The Golden Eagles were paced by a 24-point night from Toualeu which set a new career high for the freshman, outdoing her 23-point effort on December 1st against North Platte Community College. She also finished the game with eight rebounds and went an impressive 10-12 from the free throw line.
No other LCCC players finished with double digits, although three did have six point games, including Smith-White, Marcela Pinedo-Saavedra, and Kelly Megown.
Lylah Spring closed the night as the top rebounder for both teams with 13 in the game as she continues her pace to average a double-double on the season.
LCCC finished the game shooting just 31.7 percent from the field and was only 2-18 from three-point range. They did impress from the free throw line, going 16-22 for a 72.7 percent mark. The Trappers finished with an impressive 47.4 percent effort from three, going 9-19 from deep and shot 38.5 percent from the field.
The homestand continues for LCCC on Saturday afternoon when they take on the Central Wyoming College Rustlers, looking to sweep them on the season after taking the win in Riverton 83-78 in January.
The game is the Blue Cross Blue Shield Blue Out, and fans are encouraged to wear blue to the game to support the team. More information and tickets can be purchased at www.golccc.com.