Women’s basketball struggles in home tourney

The Lamar Community College women's basketball team hosted the Lamar Thanksgiving Classic this past weekend, suffering two losses in their home tournament to Frank Phillips College (61-51) and Howard College (66-54).

Friday's game against Howard College started off with missed shots from both ends of the court. The Lopes were able to get on the board after a steal by sophomore Kiara Budd who assisted Kelyn Moses for a drive to the basket.

Lamar was once up by seven in the first quarter against Howard, with their strong defense helping them get better looks offensively. The Lopes were down by just four at the half and kept it at a close game until the middle of the third quarter when Howard bulled away.  LCC fell to the Howard Hawks by ten with a final score of 66-54.

Sam Caruth led the Lopes offense with sixteen points, followed by Hanna Diaz with 11 and Kelyn Moses with ten.  Iva Belosevice contributed fourteen rebounds and a block.

On Saturday, both LCC and Frank Phillips College got off to a slow start, taking a while to get a basket. Once Frank Phillips put points on the board, LCC's Budd scored right after and the game stayed close until the half. The score stood at 29-33 in favor of the Lopes at the break. 

Frank Phillips came out in a frenzy after the break, outscoring the Lopes by thirteen points, a deficit the LCC team wouldn't be able to make up. The Lopes lost to Frank Phillips 61-51.

Moses led LCC in scoring with eleven, followed by Belosevic with eight.

The Lopes return to their home court on Monday, November 27, to take on the Colorado State University Club team.