NORTH PLATTE – With eight wins already under their proverbial belt, the Laramie County Community College Golden Eagles opened their weekend road trip on Friday night with a 47-43 victory over North Platte Community College.

The Golden Eagles (9-4) had won their previous matchup with North Platte by an impressive margin of 69 points. The Lady Knights (2-9) showed up ready to play and kept it tight all game long. The Lady Knights had LCCC down, 13-12, after the first quarter.

Both teams struggled shooting from the field in the second quarter. Karli O'Brien (Rapid City, South Dakota), who led the Golden Eagles with 15 points, took advantage of a NPCC turnover and converted a layup. North Platte would answer and have the momentum until the halftime buzzer where they led the Golden Eagles by four, 26-22.

LCCC didn't go away and continued to apply pressure in the second half. The Golden Eagles got within three after falling behind by as many as eight. The Golden Eagles were able to stay within arm's length and took the lead in the fourth quarter as they held the Lady Knights to eight points in the quarter.

O'Brien went 5-of-15 from the field and led Laramie County with 15 points along with 11 rebounds to record the double-double. Haylie Anderson (Clearfield, Utah) came off the bench and closely followed with 11 points and five boards. Ja'Kia Wells (Mesquite, Texas) was in double digits rebounding pulling down 10.

Emily Joseph was NPCC's leading scorer with 16 points. Dehje Belmore led them in rebounds with nine.

Laramie County shot 15-of-63 (23.8%) in field goals, and 3-of-15 (20%) from the three. The Golden Eagles had 22 bench points. The Lady Knight shot 15-of-49 (30.6%) from the field and 5-of-22 (22.7%) from the three-point line. Both NPCC and LCCC suffered 17 turnovers.

The Golden Eagles will be back on the road at 1 p.m. Saturday against McCook Community College (9-4).