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LAUREL - The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Lady Bears end defeated Hartington-Newcastle here in Laurel 68-51 on Jan. 21 in Greater Northeast Activities Conference action before dropping a 51-45 decision to Battle Creek here Jan. 23.
Against the Bravettes, the Lady Bears were trailing 38-34 with 5:35 remaining in the game when Kaida Eriksen, who would finish with 22 points, grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in the basket then Rena Rasmussen scored when Lainey Schutte hit her cutting to the bucket, and the score was tied 38-38.
Battle Creek bumped the lead up to four with a couple of charity tosses and a basket, but Carlie Kvols canned one 16-foot jumper to make it 42-40.
The Bravettes would score the next six points to make it 48-40 before Eriksen had another put back off of an offensive rebound with 27.4 seconds left on the clock.
Battle Creek converted a pair of free throws just over two seconds later to make it 50-42, but Eriksen splashed a three to make it 50-45. Unfortunately, LCC would get no closer and Battle Creek came away with the victory.
Rasmussen added 12 points to Eriksen’s 22. Both players just missed double-doubles with Rasmussen grabbing nine rebounds and Eriksen pulling down eight. Lainey Schutte gathered in six missed shots and Rasmussen handed out four assists.
Hartington-Newcastle came to Laurel on Jan. 21 and ran into a very focused Lady Bears squad that exploded for 28 points in the second quarter to break open a 14-11 game at the end of the opening stanza.
Late in the first half with LCC leading, 38-19, Schutte hit Rasmussen with a nifty pass as she broke to the bucket to make it 40-19 before Eriksen was fouled after hauling down an offensive rebound. She converted the two charity tosses and the lead was up to 42-19 and when the dust settled on the first 16 minutes, the team when to the locker room with the Lady Bears in front, 42-22.
The Lady Wildcats outscored the Lady Bears by three points in the second half, but Laurel-Concord-Coleridge had done enough damage to take the win.
Eriksen led the offensive effort again with 23 points on the evening including four field goals from beyond the arc. Rasmussen did get her double-double in this game with 19 points and 15 boards, Camryn Sohler tacked on 11 points.
Rasmussen also dished out five assists, Sohler had four and also swiped four steals.
The Lady Bears were scheduled to take on Lutheran High Northeast Jan. 28 in Laurel then travel to Wakefield Jan. 30 to take on the Lady Trojans.
The first-ever GNAC basketball tournament is set to get underway, Feb. 3.
BC (13-5) 51 LCC (7-10) 45 LCC: Camryn Sohler 1-5 0-0 2; Hattie Mc-Corkindale 0-1 0-0 0; Lainey Schutte 3-8 0-0 7; Carlie Kvols 1-8 0-0 2; Rena Rasmussen 5-8 2-3 12; Kaida Eriksen 8-16 2-3 22. HNS (9-6) 11 11 12 17 - 51 LCC (7-10) 14 28 13 13 - 68 LCC: Sohler 3-6 2-2 11; McCorkindale 2-5 1-2 5; Tyler Recob 0-2 0-0 0; Schutte 1-3 0-0 2; Kvols 3-11 1-1 8; Brynlee Stanley 0-0 0-1 0; Justice Olson 0-1 0-0 0; Rasmussen 6-12 5-5 19; Eriksen 7-16 4-5 23; Karli Ferris 0-1 0-0 0.
