LCC ladies finish third in conference
The Lassen Community College Lady Cougar basketball team has been slaying on the court since day one of the Golden Valley Conference. And with such ferocity comes grand rewards, thus it is no surprise that the hard working Lady Cougars finished the conference season ranked third with a conference record of 7-3.
The final three games for the Lady Cougars were against the College of the Redwoods Corsairs, the Butte College Roadrunners and the College of the Siskiyous Eagles on Thursday, Feb. 8, Saturday, Feb. 10 and Wednesday, Feb. 14, respectively.
The Lassen ladies finished the conference with two wins and a loss as the Cougars won against the Redwoods 84-64, followed with a win against Butte 85-47 and finished with a loss against top-ranked team, the Siskiyous Eagles with a score of 78-60.
With a four-win streak under their belts, the Lady Cougars entered the home court with confidence to take down the Corsairs Feb. 8.
The stands filled with fans only further motivated the Cougars, so once the ball was in the air for the tip-off, Lassen got to work.
In the first quarter, Lassen established dominance with ease and met the buzzer with a 19-8 win.
Upon seeing the cowering Corsairs at the end of quarter one, the Cougars decided to let up on the pressure and enjoy the meal rather than swallowing it whole.
Though the Cougars still refused to allow Redwoods to outscore them, the second quarter ended with a more reasonable point gain ratio of 19-17, thus brining the score to 38-25.
Quarter three was another close bout as the Cougars advanced their score by 23 points while the Corsairs managed to gain 21 points.
In the final quarter, the Lassen ladies again outscored the Corsairs, this time 23-20, and solidified their win with a final score of 84-66 in their favor.
Leading the Lady Cougars at home was starter Shayla Carrier with 28 points to her credit. Carrier also had six rebounds, two assists, three steals and one block.
Maddie Camacho brought in 20 points for the orange and black team with six rebounds, five assists and one block.
Jocelyn Gandara was right behind with 16 points to her credit, seven rebounds, one assist and two steals.
After finishing the final home game of conference, Lassen took to the road to challenge the Butte Roadrunners Feb. 10.
The game against Butte was far less playful and far more brutal as the Cougars could resist devouring the birds in as few bites as possible.
Lassen had a fairly consistent performance throughout the game with a slight exception in the third quarter.
Though the Lady Cougars easily managed to bring in 28 points in quarter one, 22 in quarter two and 27 in quarter four, the Lassen ladies were unable to reach double digits while taking on quarter three and instead settled with a mere eight-point gain.
Despite the odd dip in performance midway through the game, the Cougars still successfully left the Butte court with the win via 44 points.
Gandara led the women while on the Butte court with 26 points in her favor as well as five rebounds, two assists and one steal.
Camacho brought in 21 points with three rebounds, four assists and one steal and Carrier contributed 12 points to Lassen with four rebounds and one assist.
The final stop for the orange and black team was a conference match against College of the Siskiyoius Feb. 14.
Though the Lady Cougars entered the court with confidence and a strong sense of teamwork, the outcome was not as favorable for the Cougars as one may have hoped.
Lassen knew the battle would be rough from the start as the Siskiyous Eagles were sporting an 8-1 conference record, but the girls worked hard nonetheless.
Lassen left the court with a 78-60 loss, but the effort was commendable.
Lassen started the game with fire and caused the Eagles to sweat as the first quarter ended with the Cougars in the lead 20-18.
However, quarter two drove some nails in the Cougar coffin as the Eagles outscored the visiting Cougars 24-9 to bring the score to 42-29, Shasta, by the end of the first half.
Lassen started the second half with a flame similar to that seen at the game’s start, but it wasn’t enough to fully recover. Quarter three ended with a score of 52-46, Shasta.
However, the final nail was driven into the Cougar coffin in quarter four as the Eagles outscored Lassen 26-14 and took the win with a final score of 78-60.
Though the final game of conference didn’t end in a Cougar victory, Lassen’s consistent season performance landed them in third place for the Golden Valley Conference rankings.
