Early hole hurts Plainswomen

By Sara Waite, JA

An early 12-point deficit proved too much for the Northeastern Junior College Plainswomen to overcome Wednesday. The Plainswomen hosted Laramie County Community College and fell 70-64 after allowing the Golden Eagles to take control of the lead in the first quarter.

Northeastern couldn't get its first couple shots to go in, and LCCC was first on the scoreboard. While the Plainswomen responded with a couple free throws from Jennae Fieldgrove, the scoring leader for the night, the Golden Eagles quickly racked up some more points to go up 8-2 with 6:41 left in the quarter. Over a minute later, Nicole Muragarren Clavier put up NJC's first field goal of the night, but LCCC responded with eight unanswered points. The two teams traded baskets to finish the quarter with LCCC up at 20-8.

The remaining quarters were a different story though. The Plainswomen were able to narrow the gap by two points in the second, and nearly matched LCCC point for point in the third. Northeastern headed into the final quarter of the game behind 52-41, but turned up the heat to outscore the Golden Eagles 23-18.

Besides Fieldgrove, NJC had two players reach double digits on the scoreboard: Demitria Heard contributed 12 points to the effort, and Muragarren Clavier contributed 14 off the bench. Muragarren Clavier also led the team with nine rebounds, while Fieldgrove contributed seven. Heard made five of the team's eight steals on the night.

Before the game, head coach Dave Huss said he was encouraged by what he saw in the Plainswomen's outing Saturday, Jan. 14, against Eastern Wyoming College. Although Northeastern lost that road matchup 79-65, he said they played better and showed more heart than in previous losses.

Huss said his primary focus is on building his team's confidence through the remainder of the season — not on their opponents' records. He's hoping to pick up enough wins to make it to the Region IX tournament in March.

The Plainswomen are now 6-12 overall heading into today's road matchup against Northwest Kansas Technical College. They'll return home Wednesday for the start of a three-game home stand, facing Otero Junior College.