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Lady Bears have now won five of their last six
TILDEN - Laurel-Concord-Coleridge embarked on its first-ever Greater Northeast Activities Conference girls basketball tournament here Feb. 3 as the No. 4-seed Lady Bears took on No. 5-seeded Summerland in the opening round.
It was a successful first voyage in the tournament waters as LCC came away with a somewhat easy, 61-37 win over the Lady Bobcats to advance to GNAC semifinals Feb. 6 against the top seeded Elkhorn Valley Lady Falcons.
The win over Summerland was the Lady Bears third straight and fifth in their last six games.
Two of the Lady Bears super sophomores led Laurel-Concord-Coleridge in scoring. Kaida Eriksen continued her torrid shooting while pouring in 24 points while Rena Rasmussen tossed in an additional 17 points on the night.
The Lady Bears played the Lady Falcons back on Jan. 7 and lost, 80-52, but LCC was in the middle of a sevengame losing streak at the time and has gained confidence and momentum since.
Elkhorn Valley will bring an undefeated record of 18-0 into the game while the Lady Bears got back to .500 with the Summerland win.
West Holt and Hartington-Newcastle will square off in the other semifinal after the Lady Huskies defeated Lutheran High NE in the first round and the Lady Cats disposed of Neligh-Oakdale. Both games will be played at Tilden with the finals set for Feb.8 at Hartington-Newcastle.
Earlier in the week, on Jan. 30, the Lady Bears traveled to Wakefield and defeated the Lady Trojans 56-36 and defeated Lutheran High Northeast 70-32 in a game played in Laurel on Jan. 28.
Rasmussen had the hot hand against the Lady Eagles, pouring in 25 points on the evening. Eriksen added 13 and Lainey Schutte tossed in a dozen.
Carlie Kvols tacked on eight and Hattie McCorkindale recorded seven.
Schutte and Rasmussen completed double-doubles in the game with Schutte grabbing 11 rebounds and Rasmussen, who is averaging a double-double for the season, hauling in 14 missed shots.
Laurel-Concord-Coleridge went up early on the Lady Eagles, leading 15-9 at the end of the first frame then took control of the game outscoring LHNE 18-4 in the second period to take a comfortable, 33-13 advantage into the intermission.
The Lady Bears put the hammer down in the third quarter and squandered any doubt, adding 20 points to the lead to put the game away.
After the GNAC tourney concludes Feb. 8, the Lady Bears have two regular season games left on the schedule.
SUMM (7-12) 37 LCC (10-10) 61 Statistics not available LCC (10-10) 56 WAK (3-15) 36 Statistics not available LHNE (2-19) 9 4 8 11 - 32 LCC (10-10) 15 18 28 9 - 70 LCC: Camryn Sohler 0-2 0-0 0; Hattie Mc-Corkindale 3-4 0-1 7; Tyler Recob 1-1 0-0 2; Lainey Schutte 5-8 1-2 12; Carlie Kvols 2-10 3-4 8; Brynlee Stanley 0-1 0-0 0; Tae Settje 0-1 0-0 0; Rena Rasmussen 6-16 1114 25; Kaida Eriksen 4-11 2-2 13; Karli Ferris 0-4 0-0 0; Alyza Leonard 1-1 0-0 3.
