Roadrunners Defeat LCC
The LB men’s team delivered at home against Lane Community College with a 79-71 win over their division rival Wednesday, Jan. 24.
After going down 15-24 midway through the first half, the Roadrunners answered with a 14-4 run out of a timeout to go up 29-28. Both teams went back and forth for the remainder of the half but Lane reclaimed the lead after a last second bucket. This sent the Roadrunners into halftime down 38-39.
The second half was similar to the first, with both teams trading baskets for a stretch in the beginning. Leading 47-46 five minutes into the half, the Roadrunners came up with a huge 12-2 run that put them up 59-48 with 12 minutes left. Led by Taylor Jensen’s double-double performance, LB refused to let Lane back into the game and coasted to a 79-71 win. The win put them at 13-6 overall and 3-3 in conference play.
Jensen had 13 points and 21 rebounds, Bailey Evers finished 50 percent from the field with 15 points, and Cooper Getsfried recorded a game high of three blocks.
Coach Everett Hartman felt the Roadrunners handled the challenges that Lane threw at them well by winning the rebounding battle and by getting good scoring production off of the bench.
“They were a really good athletic team. Their point guard is an all-league player who lead them in scoring with 26 points, they had a good center Kylor Kelley who was recruited by Oregon State, their posts were physical and they were able to get points off turnovers… We were able to out rebound them 43-26 and our bench helped us out by getting 19 points,” said Hartman.
After the win over Lane, the Roadrunners defeated Mt. Hood on Saturday, Jan. 27, 70-63. This pushes their record to 14-6 overall and 4-3 in the conference.
The women’s team had their hands full with Lane’s high powered offense. The Titans currently have the third best scoring offense in the NWAC and LB struggled to keep up, falling 61-98.
The Roadrunners played solid defense early on, holding Lane to 12 points with only three minutes left in the first quarter. A couple of costly turnovers allowed Lane to extend the lead to 10-17 at the end of the first. Lane came out on fire in the second and outscored the Roadrunners 12-5 in the first three minutes of the quarter, increasing the deficit to 15-29. From there, LB’s defensive struggles continued as they went into the half down 27-44.
Things looked good for LB at the start of the third quarter as the Roadrunners delivered a 8-0 run in the first three minutes, cutting the deficit in half 35-44. Lane responded with a 9-0 run themselves and didn’t look back, scoring 27 points in the both the third and fourth quarters to close out the game. LB’s shooting struggles kept them from getting back into the game and they fell 61-98 in the end. The loss put the Roadrunners at 7-11 overall and 2-4 in the conference.
Breonna Bronson had a double-double with 14 points and 18 rebounds, Courtney Landis finished with 14 points and five assists, and Madeline Oakden lead the team in scoring with 15 points.
“We knew they were going to pressure us tonight, so we needed to calm down and take the ball up the court, which we did in the beginning but then we got frazzled towards the end,” said Bronson.
Captain Courtney Landis feels the team had the players and ability to win against Lane, but the defensive struggles prevented them from doing so.
“We lost tonight’s game because we lacked defense and a lot of heart, and if we learn to compete through the entire game, we have enough talent to win the game,” said Landis.
On Saturday, Jan. 27 they fell to Mt. Hood 48-66 to bring them to 7-12 on the season and 2-5 in the conference.
The two team’s next games will be at home against Southwestern Oregon on Wednesday, Jan. 31.
