CHEYENNE, WY – After a valiant fight, the Laramie County Community College women's basketball team couldn't keep up with a red hot second half from the Casper College Thunderbirds on Saturday afternoon at the Blue FCU RAC, falling 77-62 for their second consecutive loss in conference play.
The opening of the game had a different tone to it as the Golden Eagles struck first with an inside attack led by Marcela Pinedo-Saavedra that helped them to a 6-0 lead in the opening minutes.
Casper responded with a 9-2 run of their own to take their first lead at 9-8 and were able to push the lead up to 18-13 going into the second quarter as the LCCC defense had trouble stopping Andi Schissler who had 12 of the 18 points for the Thunderbirds in the quarter.
The second quarter was more of the same from Casper for the majority, with the Thunderbirds able to open up an 18-point lead going into the final minute, but a burst from LCCC at the end closed the gap to 38-26 going into the locker room thanks to an 8-2 run by the Golden Eagles.
Momentum from that final minute carried into the second half and the Golden Eagles opened the third quarter with a 9-3 run to cut the lead to six, highlighted by a Kelly Megown three that forced the Thunderbirds to take a timeout and regroup.
"Coming out of the locker room, we found some fight in us and scared Casper a little bit," Assistant Coach Cameron Karajanis said. "Our girls feed off of our runs, especially when they start hitting their shots. Everybody starts loving it and you just feel it in the gym and the energy level was increasing."
The timeout worked for Casper, and they responded with a 19-5 run to push the lead to a game high 20, taking a 60-40 lead into the final quarter of play.
A resolute LCCC offense didn't back down in the fourth quarter behind some hot shooting from Kiera Williams, who made three consecutive three-pointers in the quarter and on an inside attack from Sabela Carro who had six of her 12 points in the quarter.
Three times LCCC closed the gap to ten points but it always seemed like Casper had the answer to keep the Golden Eagles at arm's length and despite the Golden Eagles holding them to their lowest offensive output of the game for a quarter, the Thunderbirds were able to hold on for a 15 point, 77-62 win, dropping the Golden Eagles to 2-3 in conference play and 11-10 on the season overall.
Williams finished with her best scoring game of the season leading the Golden Eagles with 16 points, going 4-6 from three in the game. Pinedo-Saavedra and Carro added 12 each and Megown rounded out the Golden Eagles in double figures with 10, most of which came from the foul line.
"When Kiera is on, she is on," Karajanis said. "There are a couple of things we need to clean up on the defensive side to be a bit more consistent but the last couple of games from the three-point line she has been outstanding."
LCCC actually outshot the Thunderbirds from the field, shooting 49 percent as a team, but Casper took 15 more shots in the game after forcing 19 turnovers and picking up a 19-7 advantage on the offensive glass.
"Casper didn't do anything outside of our scouting report that we weren't expecting. It's was more on us and unforced turnovers, and the same as last night (against Western Wyoming) as well," Karajanis said.
The Golden Eagles don't have long to think about the loss as they will be traveling north on Tuesday for a rescheduled road game with Gillette College at the Pronghorn Center. The opening tip of the game is scheduled for 5:30 pm.
Karajanis said going into what will be a busy week with three games they will need to use the positives they found to rebuild momentum.
"The biggest thing is using the positives that came out of each of these games, knowing that we can compete against these top level teams in the region, that we know that we are that much better, and use that momentum and energy to go on the road."
Streaming information and more can be found at www.golccc.com.