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TILDEN - The Laurel-Concord-Coleridge Lady Bears took the No. 1-seeded Elkhorn Valley Lady Falcons to the wire here in the semifinals of the first-ever Greater Northeast Nebraska Conference Tournament.
The Lady Bears jumped on top of Elkhorn Valley in the first quarter and led 12-9 at the end of the opening eight minutes.
The Lady Falcons battled back to lead 25-19 at the halftime huddle, but Laurel-Concord-Coleridge was far from done.
The Lady Bears fought back in the third frame to take a 32-30 advantage into the final stanza.
LCC couldn’t quite hold the lead as Elkhorn Valley responded to outscore the Lady Bears 16-10 in the period and remain unbeaten on the season and advance to the GNAC finals.
Rena Rasmussen and Kaida Eriksen led the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge scoring attack with 18 and 12 points respectively. Carlie Kvols tossed in eight.
Rasmussen also pulled down nine rebounds, Lainey Schutte grabbed eight and Kvols handed out four assists with Eriksen contributing three.
In the opening round of the GNAC Tournament, the Lady Bears got up early and stayed there on the way to a 61-37 win over Summerland to advance to the semifinals.
Eriksen was on fire in the game and poured in 24 points, including a 6-for-10 performance from beyond the 3-point line.
Rasmussen added 17, Kvols had nine and Schutte chipped in with five.
Rasmussen completed the double-double with 13 rebounds and just missed a triple-double with nine steals, Schutte also hauled in 13 boards.
The Lady Bears were scheduled to take a trip west to take on the Lady Bobcats in a regular season match up on Feb. 11 before closing on the regular slate with a home date against Wisner-Pilger on Feb. 13.
LCC has been assigned to the C1 Region 2 for post-season play. Opponents and brackets will be released later this week.
LCC (10-11) 12 7 13 10 - 42 EV (20-0) 9 16 5 16 - 46 LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE: Hattie McCorkindale 2-3 0-0 4; Lainey Schutte 0-4 0-0 0; Carlie Kvols 3-6 2-2 8; Rena Rasmussen 7-20 3-4 18; Kaida Eriksen 4-10 2-2 12. LCC (10-11) 61 SUM (8-12) 37 LAUREL-CONCORD-COLERIDGE: Camryn Sohler 1-1 0-0 3; McCorkindale 2-8 0-0 4; Tyler Recob 0-1 0-0 0; Schutte 2-6 0-0 5; Kvols 3-8 0-0 8; Brynlee Stanley 0-2
Darin Epperly | Laurel Advocate
