LCC Lady Bears earn split in openers
LAUREL — The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Lady Bears found out where they are and where they want to be in the opening week of the season.
Where they are was exemplified in a Lewis and Clark Conference win at home on Nov. 30 over Creighton, which saw the Lady Bears control the game from start to finish over the Lady Bulldogs before coming away by a relatively comfortable score of 67-42.
Where Laurel-Concord-Coleridge aspires to be was exemplified the following night in a contest against almost everyone’s top team in Class C2, Crofton, which saw the Lady Bears tumble, 73-18.
The Lady Warriors dominated from the opening tip, taking a 24-10 lead in the first eight minutes.
Unfortunately for Laurel-Concord-Coleridge, the Lady Bears would only score eight points total the rest of the game, including three in the second frame, five in the third and zero in the fourth.
Kaida Eriksen led what LCC offense there was with six points in the game.
Lainey Schutte added five, Rena Rasmussen had four and Mallory Eriksen tacked on three.
Rasmussen pulled down five rebounds on the night.
On Nov. 30 against Creighton, Laurel-Concord-Coleridge dominated from the opening tip, ending the first quarter with a comfortable 20-10 lead.
In fact, the Lady Bears forced Lady Bulldogs coach Ashley Ketelsen to call a timeout just 90 seconds into the game.
Rasmussen hit Schutte with a nice pass inside for the first score of the game.
Rasmussen took it to the hoop herself for the second bucket of the contest before Tali Erwin stole the ball from Creighton and went all the way to the hoop to make it 6-0, causing the timeout.
Creighton battled back to 10-8, but a baseline drive by Mallory Eriksen and another Erwin steal that she passed to Rasmussen for another bucket, and the score was 14-8.
The Lady Bulldogs scored again, but an Erwin three and a traditional three-point play by Rasmussen sent the teams to the first rest stop with the Lady Bears in front by the 20-10 score.
By the intermission, the score had ballooned to 40-19 and Laurel-Concord-Coleridge never looked back to claim its first win of the season by the 67-42 final.
Rasmussen had a monster game in her first varsity start, pouring in 23 points to lead four Lady Bears in double digits.
Mallory Eriksen added 12, Erwin had 11 and Kaida Eriksen tacked on 10 in her first varsity start. Schutte had nine.
Schutte was a force on the boards, hauling down nine rebounds, and Rasmussen had eight, Mallory Eriksen recorded six and Erwin grabbed five.
The Lady Bears were set to take on Homer in Laurel on Dec. 5 before hitting the road for the first time this season on Dec. 8 when they travel to Tri County Northeast at Allen.
They will return home to take on Ponca on Dec. 12.
Crofton 24 24 15 10 - 73 LCC 10 3 5 0 - 18. LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE: Tali Erwin 0-5 0-2 0; Mallory Eriksen 1-5 1-2 3; Lainey Schutte 2-5 0-0 5; Carlie Kvols 0-1 0-0 0; Rena Rasmussen 1-4 2-2 4; Kaida Eriksen 1-9 4-6 6;ToniThompson 0-1 0-0 0. Creighton 10 9 8 15 - 42 LCC 20 20 15 12 - 67 LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE:Erwin 5-11 0-0 11; M. Eriksen 6-10 0-0 12; Schutte 4-8 1-3 9; Kvols 0-1 0-0 0; Brynlee Stanley 0-2 0-2 0; Rasmussen 11-19 1-2 23; K. Eriksen 4-5 1-2 10; Carly Kuhlman 0-1 0-0 0; Karli Ferris 0-1 0-0 0; Thompson 0-3 0-0 0; Delaney Johnson 1-3 0-0 2.