CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College women's basketball team was able to use a big run in the third quarter to pull away from Eastern Wyoming College on Thursday night at the Blue FCU RAC, holding off the Lancers to win their opening conference game 64-62 and improve to 10-7 on the season.
"I saw some grittiness from our squad," Head Coach Danielle Rinaldo said. "I mean, we went on an 11-0 run, saw some blood in the water, and that's when they came back. We could have laid over, but we fought back, and we deserved it. I thought there were a lot of good things that I saw."
LCCC was able to take their first lead on an opening salvo from Flora Lukow but a 5-0 run to answer from Eastern Wyoming pushed the Lancers up 7-3.
Nuria Florensa and Marcella Pinedo-Saavedra answered for the Golden Eagles though and helped them on an 8-0 run of their own to bring the game back to LCCC's favor. That set up the end of the first for more back and forth, with neither team being able to get more than four points shy of the other and going to the second after a Kiera Williams lay-up gave the Golden Eagles the 18-17 lead.
The second quarter was more of the same. See-sawing their way through, the two sides traded leads 11 times through the first half and saw six ties. A late surge from the Golden Eagles helped them to overcome a 32-28 deficit, and a Nuria Florensa three guaranteed them going into the locker room tied at 35 after the opening half.
LCCC got off to a slow start offensively in the second half, falling behind 39-35 after it took them over four minutes to pick up their opening field goal on a Camila Bozan layup with 5:45 remaining in the third quarter.
From there, they went on a 10-0 run and pushed to their biggest lead of the game at 45-39 with 3:13 left in the quarter and eventually headed to the fourth quarter with a 48-41 advantage.
The lead ballooned to double digits early in the final frame when the Golden Eagles went up 54-43 thanks to work inside by their post players but an 11-2 run from Eastern Wyoming quickly trimmed the gap back to just two at 56-54.
A free throw brought the lancers within one, but the Golden Eagles found their footing again and were able to hold off the charge to win the game 64-62 as they traded baskets down the stretch.
"We haven't had a game since December, so to see us not skip a beat going into a really tough game against a really tough opponent, I couldn't be more happy with it," Rinaldo said.
Florensa was the leading scorer in the game for LCCC, finishing with 14 points and she was joined in double figures by Williams, who had her best game as a Golden Eagle with 13, and Kelly MeGown who added eleven along with eight rebounds and four assists.
"(Kelly) really brought it defensively in the second half which I thought got us going," Rinaldo said. "She was able to contribute in different ways which is something we talk about. You're not always going to be scoring every single night, but what you can control is your effort and your attitude."
LCCC finished shooting 40 percent from the field despite a tough night from beyond the arc, only shooting 4-22 from three-point range.
It was the defensive effort that really stood tallest, forcing 21 turnovers, including eleven steals and holding the Lancers to just 36 percent shooting. The third quarter was the biggest difference in the game, with LCCC outscoring Eastern Wyoming 13-6.
The Golden Eagles will be back at home next weekend when they face off against Northwest College and Central Wyoming College in another pair of conference matchups. As a note, Saturday's game with CWC will be played two hours prior to the regular start time, with opening tip scheduled for noon due to the 3rd Annual Blue and Gold Bash Casino Night that evening.
More information on the LCCC women's basketball schedule and the Blue and Gold Bash can be found online at www.golccc.com.