RIVERTON, WY – After a slow start, the Laramie County Community College women's basketball team used a 19-0 run to take control of their 81-53 win over Central Wyoming College on Friday night to put an end to a three-game losing streak and move to 3-4 in Region IX North action.

"We knew what we had to do tonight," Head Coach Danielle Rinaldo said. "We realigned mentally as a team and reevaluated our goals and why we were playing. We came out and we did it so I'm really proud of that."

 The Rustlers were able to burst out to an early lead taking advantage of the full court press from LCCC, forcing the Golden Eagles to take a timeout down 9-4 after four minutes.

The lead grew to as much as eleven in the first quarter until a rally in the final 60 seconds gave LCCC a 6-0 run and took the two sides to the second quarter with only a 19-14 lead for Central Wyoming.

That run didn't stop at the buzzer, and Jessica Taylor made sure it kept up in the second quarter as LCCC continued on the way to a 19-0 run to take a 27-19 lead before the Rustlers were able to slow it down. Two more layups aided by Marcela Pinedo-Saavedra who had eight assists in the first half extended the lead to double figures at 32-21.

"Our bench did a really good job tonight. Three of the girls coming off of the bench, one had 13, one had nine, one had eight so they did really well for us especially when our starters became stagnant there at the first and gave us fresh eyes," Rinaldo said.

Hot three-point shooting in the quarter where LCCC went 6-9 from deep helped extend the lead to 42-26 at the half.

Both sides came out hot from the field in the opening five minutes of the third quarter and while Central Wyoming was able to close the gap to 12 three times, the Golden Eagles always seemed to have an answer.

Heading to the fourth, LCCC still held a 16-point lead with balanced attack from the bench and the starters with the bench combining for 29 points by the end of the game.

LCCC opened the fourth quarter with another big run, extending the lead by eight off of the bat to 71-47 on an 8-0 surge to push the lead to a game high 24.

Central Wyoming began to struggle with turnovers, committing 20 in the game as they were held to just six points in the quarter and the Golden Eagles closed the win out with an 81-53 win to secure the regular season sweep of the Rustlers.

LCCC was led by Pinedo-Saavedra who had a 16-point, 12 assist double double. Her 12 assists were one away from the program record of 13 set by Laia Balcells in 2021.

"(Marcela) was just seeing the court really well and we had preached sharing the ball the last couple of days and that's exactly what she did tonight," Rinaldo said.  

Also scoring in double figures was Sabela Carro with 18 and a career high 13 points from Irelynd Barnes. Nine Golden Eagles scored in the game and the team combined for 23 assists for their biggest amount in conference play. They also forced 15 steals and only turned the ball over five times in the game.

"My favorite stat of the night is that 23 assists because that just goes to show everybody was getting the love and we were sharing the ball, and that was what we were preaching all week," Rinaldo said.

LCCC will wrap up the swing through Northwest Wyoming with a trip to Powell on Saturday afternoon with a game against Northwest College.

"Traveling to Northwest, it's a tough gym to play in. I feel like we are very similar to Northwest, and they've been playing really tough so we know what we need to do. We are ready, we are focused, so we just have to execute," Rinaldo said.

The opening tip for the game against the Trappers is scheduled for 2:00 pm. Streaming information and more can be found at www.golccc.com.