LAMAR, CO – The Laramie County Community College women's basketball team pulled away from the Lamar Community College Runnin' Lopes in the second half, breaking a 24 all tie to win 70-58 for their third straight win of the season, improving to 6-6 on the year.

The first and second quarters were defensive struggles as both offenses struggled to find a rhythm. Both teams held leads in the opening quarter with three lead changes and two ties, but the largest lead went to the Golden Eagles to lead 11-6 before a 5-0 run to close the quarter brought the game even after the first ten minutes.

Lamar kept the run going in the opening five minutes of the second quarter, going on a 7-0 run after the game was tied at 13. LCCC didn't waver a three from Flora Lukow broke a four-minute scoring drought and kicked off a run for the visitors who went on a 9-2 run of their own to even the game at 22.

Both teams traded baskets in the final seconds to head to the half tied at 24.

"We were ready for it to be a dogfight," Rinaldo said of the opening 20 minutes. "Every time you go that far on a road game it's just going to be a fight and Lamar is good. They've had a lot of close games so that's what we were expecting."

LCCC began to heat up from three in the third quarter hitting with four of their first five shots coming from deep with Lukow being joined by Nuria Florensa and Jessica Taylor in the barrage to give some separation and taking the Golden Eagles into the media time out up 40-37.

The two sides traded points in the last few minutes but a last second layup by Lukow gave the 46-43 lead into the final quarter.

A change in defense from the Lopes forced a change in attack from the Golden Eagles in the fourth quarter, as they worked inside more to break the zone defense from the Lopes.

"When they threw the zone on us, we talked about still needing paint penetration and getting to the rim. You have to drive and kick," Rinaldo said. "That changed the mindset and got us open a little bit more, but we had to get the defense out of rotation."

That helped LCCC build the lead up to 61-53 before a quick five-point burst brought Lamar back to within three with 1:55 remaining.

That was the closest they would get.

The Golden Eagles stomped onto the gas pedal and threw out the barricade behind them as they closed the game on a 9-0 run paced by strong free throw shooting, going 5-5 down the stretch and completing the 70-58 win to move back to .500 on the year.

Marcela Pinedo-Saavedra was big throughout the game on both sides of the ball, scoring 15 points to go with 14 rebounds and six steals. It was her fourth double-double of the season.

Joining her in double digits were Lukow and Florensa who finished with 18 points each. Lukow had another five assists and five rebounds while Florensa had five steals and three assists.

The team also aided their cause with no one getting more than three fouls in the game and in no quarter did they reach the bonus. Rinaldo said that was something the coaching staff has been working with them on and it was important in a close game.

"Lamar has taller, longer, bigger girls, so to have some of our bigs who have been in foul trouble not get in trouble, and just be disciplined on the defensive was really good to see."

As a team, the Golden Eagles finished with 39 rebounds, 13 of them offensive, and 13 steals which helped to counter the 21 turnovers in the game. Thirteen of those came in the first half and the better possession of the ball also helped to aid in the strong close to the game.

"We came out a lot more confident in the second half which was really good to see. I told them we just had to have poise and confidence when handling the ball and handling the ball pressure and then we had to make our defense turn into offense and keep momentum defensively," Rinaldo said.

LCCC is back at home this weekend as the women will take on McCook Community College on Friday night at 5:30 pm before wrapping up the weekend with the North Platte Community College Knights on Saturday at 2:00 pm.

More information, including tickets and streaming, can be found at www.golccc.com.