CONCORDIA – Outscored 15-6 in the final 3:37 of the game, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would see visiting Neosho County hand the T-Birds an 86-78 defeat inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium in Concordia on Wednesday.
The loss leaves Cloud County with a 9-15 overall record and 4-10 mark in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Panthers improved to 8-12 overall and 3-1 in the KJCCC with all three conference wins coming since January 15th.
Wasting no time from the opening tip, the T-Birds would score two quick buckets to force a Neosho timeout less than 90 seconds into the contest as the lead would grow from four to seven on an Alyssa Castilleja triple on the ensuing possession for CCCC. Not done yet, Cloud County would continue their run by two more baskets to take an 11-0 lead as the Panthers would go the first 3:31 of the game before scoring. Both teams would trade a pair of buckets over the next two-plus minutes of action as CCCC would score the final six points of the opening quarter to turn a 10-point lead into a 26-10 lead heading to the second.
Cloud County's lead would grow to a game-high 18 on their first possession of the second period as Castilleja would get a layup which would put the score at 28-18. Neosho would get three's on each of their next two possessions but see the T-Birds trade the triples with two-point buckets as the lead would stay double-digits throughout the first six minutes of the quarter. Holding a 39-26 lead with 4:57 left in the first half, CCCC would see their offense begin to sputter as the Panthers would score the next seven points of the game to get within six, but a LaKya Leslie layup and free throw would push the lead back out to nine with just over a minute before halftime. The score would end up holding over the final 1:13 of the first half as Cloud County would hold a 42-33 lead at intermission.
Neosho would continue to cut into the lead to start the second half, scoring the first 10 points of the third quarter to take their first lead of the game at 43-42 with 7:02 remaining in the third. The run would be capped off just over a minute later on a layup to cap off a 12-0 Panther run that would force a T-Bird timeout as CCCC would be held without a point in the first 3:31 of the second half. Things would then become back and forth for the remainder of the third quarter as Cloud County would trade the lead with Neosho on six different occasions to close out the quarter with Cloud County trailing by a score of 57-56 with just one quarter of play remaining.
A pair of free throws from Jacy Dalinghaus and a Lydia Ostenson layup to start the fourth quarter would allow Cloud County to reclaim the lead at 60-57, but Neosho would respond with one of their 12 three's to knot things up at 60-60 with 8:55 remaining in the game. The next 12 points of the game would be split evenly between the Panthers and T-Birds to tie things up yet again at 66-66, with Neosho eventually managing to take a two-possession lead at 71-67 midway through the quarter. A 5-0 spurt by CCCC would give the T-Birds their final lead of the game at 72-71 with 3:37 remaining, but Neosho would waste no time by scoring a layup just nine seconds later to kick off an 8-0 run to go up 79-72 with less than a minute remaining. Cloud County would add a pair of Kelsie Kelly free throws and a layup from Dalinghaus, but free throws from the Panthers along with a layup in the final seconds would allow Neosho to come away with the win.
Cloud County's hot start would be paced by a 47.2 percent (17-of-36) shooting performance in the first half, but would manage to finish the game with just a 39.2 percent (29-of-74) outing with a five-for-17 (29.4 percent) mark from beyond the arc. Neosho would be aided by a 24-of-32 performance (75.0 percent) from the charity stripe as the Panthers would score 20 fast break points and 17 points off 17 Cloud County turnovers.
Both Leslie and Dalinghaus would pace CCCC with 14 points each as Jasmina Jones and Kelly would each score 12 points. Only seven T-Birds would find the scoring column on the night, with no other Cloud County player managing to crack double-figures.
What's next?
Cloud County will have a week before they begin the second time around the KJCCC East Division with a trip to El Dorado, Kansas to take on Butler Community College at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. In their previous meeting with the Grizzlies, the T-Birds would push Butler to the very end before falling by a score of 75-70.