CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College women's basketball team dropped their first game since November 18th on Saturday afternoon 64-57 to Trinidad State College.
"We are fatigued and tired," Head Coach Ayana McWilliams said of her team coming off of the three week break for Christmas and New Year's. "It's hard to really find the energy and sustain the energy, but hats off to Trinidad State. They played really hard from start to finish and they were not going to back down from us and they made us work for it."
The Golden Eagles (13-4) were able to take control of the game early, leading 15-11 after the opening quarter thanks to a 6-2 run to close out the period.
The Trojans answered back with a steady attack in the second quarter to outscore LCCC 18-11 and take a 29-26 lead into the break.
In the second half, Laramie County would make several runs to bring the score back to even, including a late rally in the fourth quarter that evened the game at 52 with under five minutes remaining. Trinidad State was able to find the answer each time though and closed out the game on a 12-5 run to secure the win.
The Golden Eagles were led in the game by Michala Bork's 18 points, followed by Jamy de Kock with 14 and Halle Hester with 10.
It was a rough night shooting the ball for LCCC who as a team only managed to shoot 33.9 percent and were only 25 percent from three. Turnovers were also an issue with 25 in the game.
"We didn't shoot the ball well at all tonight," McWilliams said. "Offensively we just struggled all game from the field. Whether that was shooting or getting to the basket or making free throws. I think fatigue played a lot into that and it takes a lot out of you."
The Golden Eagles are back in action this weekend when they will play Northeastern Junior College in Scottsbluff, Nebraska after adding the game to the schedule last week.
For now, it's back to business as usual for the LCCC women, who's confidence in their ability wasn't touched by the tough loss.
"This loss doesn't change who we are or what we are," McWilliams said. "We are going to continue to prepare for every game the way we have been. Hopefully our conditioning and stuff will be a little bit better by the weekend. But it doesn't change who we are."
Opening tip of the game with NJC will be set for 11:00 am on Saturday, January 14th at The Cougar Palace on the Western Nebraska Community College campus.