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WAYNE - The 2025 Elkhorn Valley Bank Great Northeast Nebraska Shootout got underway Dec. 29 and the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Lady Bears drew the red-hot Pender Lady Pendragons in the opening round at Rice Auditorium on campus of Wayne State College.
Pender shot a blistering 70% from the field in the first half to build a 37-24 lead at the intermission and never looked back on the way to a 66-35 win.
One bright spot for the Lady Bears was junior Rena Rasmussen who scored her 1,000th point in her career with a free throw with 17.4 seconds left in the contest and the game decided.
“I’m sure I’ll look back on this and feel good about it but it’s kind of hard to enjoy it right now after getting beat,” said Rasmussen. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates and we’ll just go back to work and try to improve from here.”
The Lady Pendragons jumped out to a 10-2 lead in the first eight minutes before a Rasmussen bucket inside made it 10-4. A Boston Brown drive in the paint made it 12-6 with 1:08 left in the first then Pender ended the first quarter with a basket to make it 14-6 heading into the second frame.
Both teams heated up in the second stanza, but Pender added five points to the lead in the quarter, outscoring LCC 23-18.
Carlie Kvols knocked down a three , Rasmussen scored on another long ball and went 6-for-6 at the charity stripe and Eriksen splashed a pair of trifectas to account for the 18 points for the Lady Bears.
Pender made some hay in the third quarter putting up 19 points and limiting Laurel-Concord-Coleridge to just three baskets to take a 56-30 lead into the final frame.
Rasmussen would finish with 20 points in the contest, Eriksen posted eight points.
The Lady Bears were set to take on Omaha Concordia in the consolation bracket on Dec. 30. The Lady Mustangs were defeated by Pierce in the first round.
The Northeast Shootout continued with consolation games and the championship on Dec. 31.
LCC (4-3) 6 18 6 5 - 35 PEN (8-0) 14 23 19 10 - 66 LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE: Rena Rasmussen 5 9-10 20; Carlie Kvols 1 0-0 3; Kaida Eriksen 3 0-4 8; Boston Brown 1 0-0 2; Karli Ferris 1 0-0 2. PENDER: Hadley Walsh 8 1-2 20; Madalyn Dolliver 4 0-0 12; Mayci Dolliver 1 0-0 3; Kaylee Schroeder 4 0-1 8; Giselle Holloway 1 0-0 3; Myra Hansen 4 0-2 11; Brylee Mosser 2 0-0 4; Allie Rutar 1 0-0 3; Laney Timm 1 0-0 2.
