Lansing Community College’s women’s basketball team endured a rude initiation to the NJCAA national tournament on Tuesday evening, falling 84-63 to Parkland College in Hickory, North Carolina, ending the Stars’ national championship hopes in Round 1.
LCC, the No. 7 seed, moves into the consolation bracket, with potentially three more games, beginning at 4 p.m. Wednesday against 18-seed National Park College (from Hot Springs, Arkansas) in Hickory.
The Stars (27-4), making their first appearance at the NJCAA Division II national championships since 1996, trailed 10-seed Parkland 37-33 late in the second quarter, before Parkland opened up an 11-point lead at the half. LCC got the deficit back to six, at 52-46 in the third quarter, but Parkland then went on an 11-1 run to take control the game for good.
Parkland was efficient offensively, making 31 of 58 shots (53.4%), while LCC made 23 of 57 (40.4%). The Stars also turned the ball over 22 times, while Parkland coughed it up 15 times, leading to a 22-7 difference in points off turnovers. It was LCC’s first loss of 20 or more points in Megan Hudson’s three years as head coach.
Freshman Armonie Smith led LCC the Stars with 15 points and four blocked shots, while sophomore Claire Tobias had 14 points, four assists and four rebounds.
MORE: Lansing Community College women’s basketball dominates district, breaks through to NJCAA national tournament
Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on X @Graham_Couch and BlueSky @GrahamCouch.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Lansing Community College women’s basketball endures rude welcoming on the court at NJCAA national tournament
Reporting by Graham Couch, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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