Women's basketball splits in Nebraska
The Lamar Community College women's basketball team split it's games in Scottsbluff, NE at the Western Nebraska Classic this weekend, knocking off Central Community College (68-52) and falling to Northwest College (54-52).
In Friday's action, a slow start saw the Runnin' Lopes down 10-2 after a Central three pointer with 5:17 to go in the first quarter. Lamar would find its legs and finish the half outscoring the Raiders, 10-5 to get to within 15-12 after the first. An 8-3 start to the second quarter would see the Lopes take their first lead, 20-18 on an Angie Lopez layup with 6:34 to go in the half. The rest of the half would see the teams take turns leading before a 9-2 spurt for Lamar over the last 3:45 of the half saw them take a 33-27 lead into the halftime break. Sophomore, Tayler Dossey had a solid first half, scoring 10 points. Lamar shot 37% in the half, while Central hit 35%.
The second half would be a quick start for LCC, seeing them take a 10 point lead, 39-29 with 8:08 to go in the third off back to back threes by sophomore, Sophia Trujillo and freshman, Althea Angeles. However, CCC would respond with an 8-0 run of their own to close back to within two points. That would be as close as they would get as Lamar would eventually start pushing the lead up back to double figures to a game high of 16, which would also be the final margin.
For Lamar, Angeles led the way with 18 points, adding eight assists, and three steals. Dossey and freshman, Kya Gastineau each added 10 points. Lopez led the way with eight rebounds, while Jada Dupree added to her overall team lead in steals by earning four. For the Raiders, Brittney Veik led the way with 15.
In the Saturday matchup, the Lopes came storming back from a 14 point deficit with 8:36 remaining to get within one and then two the final minute before a final turnover led to the two point Northwest College win.
The first quarter saw both teams struggle out of the gate with the 10 am start time as NWC started out up 5-0, before an Angeles runner gave the Lopes some life offensively. The two teams would trade baskets the rest of the quarter with the Trappers leading the entire quarter, including a 13-12 lead at the end of the first. The second saw the Lopes grab their first lead on a steal by Trujillo and a pass up court to a streaking Angeles for the layup and a 14-13 lead with 9:14 to go. The teams would again go back to trading baskets and leads as there were a total of 10 lead changes in the first half. At halftime it would be a 29-26 lead for NWC.
The third quarter, like the first saw both teams struggle early as neither team scored until a pair of Trapper free-throws with 8:52 expanded the lead to five. Both teams would go scoreless the next 2:40 and combine to 0-6 from the field, 0-2 from the line and turn it over three times. Eventually both teams would start to get going as the lead was pushed to six, followed by a 9-0 Northwest run that resulted in a deficit of 14, 47-33 for the Lopes.
The fourth quarter saw three technical fouls and a 14 point NWC lead, 49-35 with 8:36 to go before Lamar started their run. Over the next 8:36 the Lamar defense would step up and they would start getting some shots at the basket as they would outscore the Trappers, 17-5 before the final buzzer sounded with a two point loss.