#7 Lakers top the Chargers in day one of the Thumb Coast Tip Off

Lake Land College tops Edison State in opening game of SC4 Thumbcoast Tip-Off

PORT HURON, Mich. -- Kaylee Niebrugge and the Lake Land College women's basketball team used a strong fourth quarter Thursday to pull out a 64-58 victory against Edison State Community College in the opening game of the inaugural SC4 Thumbcoast Tip-Off at St. Clair County Community College.

Niebrugge was one of four Lakers to score in double figures, and scored seven of her 11 points in the fourth quarter, as Lake Land outscored Edison 23-16 in the final 10 minutes to come away with the victory at the SC4 Fieldhouse.

"I think our team got in a rhythm," Niebrugge said. "Our team started hitting more shots, I felt more confident in my shot after hitting one. That made our defense have more intensity to get stops."

No. 6 Lake Land (Mattoon, Ill.) advances to Friday's semifinal at 5 p.m. against No. 4 CCBC Essex. Edison (Piqua, Ohio) will play the Lansing Community College at 1 p.m. All games will be played at the SC4 Fieldhouse.

"I think (the tournament) is very well put together, and I think there's a lot of really good competition that I'm excited to play," Niebrugge said. "I'm glad that we're in the winning side of the bracket now."

Audri Spencer led Lake Land with 16 points, while Sydney Richards had 14 points and 11 rebounds, and Charleece Davis added 13 points and six rebounds. Niebrugge had eight rebounds to go with her 11 points.

"Last year, we had seven kids between eight and 12 points, on average, so that's usually typical of our team," Lake Land coach David Johnson said. "I always tell them, I don't need five Batmans, I need five Robins. We don't need one superstar, we'll win with five Robins."

Rylie Homan was 4-of-5 from 3-point range and led Edison State with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Allison Hughes added 12 points and eight rebounds for the Chargers.

Homan did most of her damage in the third quarter, as Edison State erased a deficit that had climbed as high as 12 at one point in the second quarter. The Chargers outscored Lake Land 23-13 in the third, and led 42-41 heading into the final frame.

"I thought we came out really bad – we couldn't have played a worst first quarter," Edison State coach Tim McMahon said. "I don't know what was going on, but that wasn't us. I thought the second quarter we picked it up, and I thought the second half we played really well. We made some 3s and we played with more energy. We're a second half team most of the time, we'll come back and play really well in the second half. But you can't get down to good teams and only play a half of basketball and win. But I was really happy with our effort and how we came back and played with emotion."

Lake Land 64, Edison State 58 (Box Score)

The SC4 Thumbcoast Tip-Off is presented by SC4 along with the Blue Water Area Convention & Visitors Bureau, and is sponsored by McLaren Port Huron, LiUNA Local 1075, SEMCO Energy, Troy Cleaners, DoubleTree Port Huron, Standard Office Supply, Buffalo Wild Wings, All-Star Services, ThumbCoast Realty, LLC, Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling, Earl Smith Distributing Co., 4Sports, Body Armor and Casey's.

St Clair County Community College (SC4) was founded in 1923 and is the only public higher education institution in the thumb of Michigan. SC4 is a comprehensive community college that provides certificates and degrees for employable skills and college credits that can be transferred to a four-year college or university. The college provides collegiate arts and athletics for the area and has been an asset for students and the Port Huron community for over one hundred years.  

For media inquiries, please contact Sarah Rutallie, Chief of Staff/Senior Vice President, SC4, at srutallie@sc4.edu

SC4 Thumbcoast Tip-Off Results/Schedule

Thursday:

• Game 1: Lake Land 64, Edison State 58
• Game 2: CCBC Essex 90, Lansing 73
• Game 3: Mid-Michigan vs. Mesa, 5 p.m.
• Game 4: SC4 vs. Harcum

Friday:

• Game 5: Edison State vs. Lansing, 1 p.m.
• Game 6: Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 3 p.m.
• Game 7: Lake Land vs. CCBC Essex, 5 p.m.
• Game 8: Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 7 p.m.

Saturday:

• Seventh-Place Game: Loser of Game 5 vs. Loser of Game 6, noon
• Fifth-Place Game: Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6, 2 p.m.
• Third-Place Game: Loser of Game 7 vs. Loser of Game 8, 4 p.m.
• Championship Game: Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8, 6 p.m.