GILLETTE, WY –  It was a sour ending on Saturday morning as Laramie County Community College dropped a tight one with Colorado Northwest Community College 73-68 to close their two-game set at the Pronghorn Winter Classic. LCCC entered the game with only seven available players on the bench due to injuries.

"We knew we were going to go into it with some adversity," Head Coach Danielle Rinaldo said. "We talked about controlling the pace, controlling the fouls, how we would have to play a lot of minutes and just grinding it out. Credit to Colorado Northwest. They caught that momentum and had the energy the majority of the game."

The Golden Eagles were a little slow out of the gates after having played less than 24 hours prior, but went on a 10-3 run, eight of which came from Nuria Florensa, to take a 14-11 lead late in the opening quarter. Colorado Northwest hit a three on their last possession to even the score at 14 going into the second quarter.

More offense began to come for LCCC in the second quarter and a 7-1 run helped to give some breathing room and forced CNCC to call a timeout with 6:18 to go in the first half.

The lead would grow to as much as eight, but the Spartans were able to trim it to a single possession in the final minute. Free throws from LCCC helped to rebuild the lead to 34-29 at the half.

Foul trouble would be the name of the game in the second half as the Golden Eagles entered the game with only seven available players, and Marcela Pinedo Saavedra picked up her fourth foul early and had to spend much of the third quarter on the bench.

"Marcela has been in foul trouble before so we've had to go guard heavy, so I think it just took some time to settle in and realize that they had to step up. We tried to do some really good things it just didn't go our way tonight," Rinaldo said.

The trips to the line stacked up and the Spartans were slowly able to fight back into the game, taking their first lead with two minutes to go and closing out the quarter with a 51-48 lead.

LCCC tied the game out of the gate in the fourth quarter and seemed like they might take momentum back, but CNCC continued to attack inside and between a plus-8 advantage on offensive rebounds and 36 free throw attempts in the game including 23 in the second half, they were able to extend their lead to as much as seven.

The Golden Eagles closed the game to a one-point game at 69-68 with less than thirty seconds remaining but Colorado Northwest made their free throws down the stretch and closed out the win 73-68.

Hailey Wright had her best game as a Golden Eagles with a career high 22 points to go with five rebounds. Florensa was the only other player to reach double digits for LCCC with 12 points.

"We've been missing (Hailey) the last couple games so now that she's getting back into the groove and in better shape it's good to have her back," Rinaldo said.

Both teams took a lot of trips to the line with another 29 free throws from LCCC, but the Golden Eagles only shot 57 percent from the line. LCCC did win the rebounding battle 45-39 and only gave up five offensive rebounds to the Spartans in the game.

The loss drops the Golden Eagles to 3-5 on the season as they have another quick turn around before hitting the road for a game against Northeastern Junior College in Sterling. Tip for that game is schedule for 5:30 pm. More information can be found at www.golccc.com.