Faith Walker gave her teammates an early Christmas present as the sophomore had a double-double of 13 points and 17 rebounds, but it was her five blocks that came up big and the block with five seconds left was the game-saver giving the No. 25 Western Nebraska Community College a 66-64 win over Laramie County Community College Thursday evening at Cougar Palace.
The win was the Cougars' 10th straight and move the Cougars to 13-1 heading into the holiday break. WNCC will return to action January 6 when they host Central Wyoming College.
"I think it is pretty big for us. It is our last game of the semester and I think we really needed this to start off next semester," Walker said. "It was pretty exciting (to get those blocks) and to do it for my team, to have their back and for them to have trust in me, it was fun."
Games like this, where the team needs to dig deep to win games, are good to have, and the Cougars had to dig deep since they were held to just 28 percent shooting from the field and scored just 10 points in the third quarter and just one field goal.
"These games like this prepares us for the future," Walker said. "We are going to get in some close games later in the season, especially when we go into the tournament and, just knowing that we can handle it and be prepared is a good feeling."
While the Cougars won a close one, it was a win and that is all that matters.
"We dug it out," she said.
The game was a battle throughout. The first quarter started as both teams were trading buckets and left and right. LCCC last led in the first quarter at 11-9 on a bucket by Blanche Toualeu with 5:55 to play. The two teams were knotted at 16 when Walker buried a trey for a 19-16 lead. LCCC had another bucket to cut the WNCC lead to 19-18, but the Cougars ended the opening quarter on a 5-0 run behind back-to-back buckets by Mackenzie Joseph for a 24-18 lead.
WNCC opened the second quarter as they ran to a 12-point lead at 36-24 lead. That is when LCCC went on a 6-0 run to slice the deficit to six, 36-20. Walker finished off the half with two free throws for a 38-30 Cougar lead at intermission.
The second half saw a renewed defense from the Golden Eagles that clamped down early on the Cougars and held them without a point for the first five minutes of the game. LCCC tied the game with 4:14 left in the quarter after an 11-3 run and took their first lead of the game since midway in the first quarter at 43-42.
From there, the lead swelled to as high as five in the quarter when the Golden Eagles went up 51-46, closing the quarter with a 51-48 lead after late free throws were given to WNCC. LCCC held the Cougars to just one field goal in the third while the Cougars buried crucial free throws in the period, going 8-of-12 from the charity stripe.
LCCC kept playing well in the fourth as they went up 54-48 midway in the fourth quarter. That was when the Cougars got hot as Helena Kuck buried back-to-back 3-pointers to give WNCC a 57-56 lead. LCCC retook the lead at 60-59 on two free throws by Marija Markovic with 3:12 to play.
WNCC came right back down and retook the lead on birthday girl Gal-La Font bucket, which was the start of a 6-0 run. Font followed that with a 3-pointer that banked in with two minutes to play. Joseph followed with a 2-pointer that banked in from the key for the 66-60 lead.
LCCC came right back on four free throws, the last two from Toualeu with 43.2 seconds to play. WNCC then turned the ball over on a shot-clock violation giving LCCC a chance to force overtime. With five seconds to play and coming out of a timeout, LCCC worked the ball into Toualeu who Walker went up and blocked the shot and came down with the rebound for the final.
WNCC had three players in double figures. Walker led the way with 17 points followed by Joseph with 16 points, including two treys. Kuck finished with 11 points and three 3-pointers.
WNCC was out-rebounded 54-40. Walker had 13 boards while Joseph had seven and Font with five. LCCC was led by Lylah Spring with 17 boards.
WNCC connected on nine treys in the game compared to two for LCCC. The Golden Eagles made one more free throw than WNCC. LCCC was 18-of-27 from the line while WNCC was 17-of-29.
WNCC, 13-1, will be off until the first weekend in January when they resume play for the second semester.
LCCC (6-7) 18 12 21 13 – 64
WNCC (13-1) 24 14 10 18 – 66
LCCC
Lylah Spring 12, Kelly Megown 12, Blanche Toualeu 16, Marcela Pinedo 4, Tyra Lovelock 4, Mattie Jones 1, Tamara Smith-White, Marija Markovic 7.
WNCC
Amiyah Donaldson 2, Helena Kuck 11, Gal-La Font 8, Mackenzie Joseph 16, Adelina Urtane 3, Ebere Egbirika 5, Keyla Cervantes 2, Faith Walker 17, Kiley Smich 2.