Cloud County Athletics
CONCORDIA - Getting season-high 24 points from sophomore Rori Cox which included the game-winning shot with 3.7 seconds remaining, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would end their regular season in come-from-behind fashion to defeat Colby Community College by a final score of 71-69 inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday.
Picking up a fourth-straight win to close out the regular season, Cloud County is now 15-15 overall and ends Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play with an 11-13 record. Colby drops to 8-20 overall and concludes KJCCC action with a 5-18 mark in conference.
Having to overcome a 17-7 deficit in second-chance points and 21-18 deficit in points off turnovers, the T-Birds would trail for nearly 88 percent of the contest as Colby would break open an 8-7 contest by scoring eight straight points midway through the first quarter to go up 15-7 with 3:16 left in the opening period. Three first-quarter triples from the Trojans and a 44 percent field goal percentage in the opening 10 minutes would lead to 22 points for Colby as the T-Birds would trail by 11 heading into the second quarter after being outscored 22-11 in the period.
Not much would change throughout the opening stretch of the second quarter as the Trojans would continue to hit open shots and take advantage of T-Bird turnovers to take their largest lead of the game at 29-14 with 5:35 left before halftime. With not much going right on the offensive end in the first half of play, Cloud County would be forced to turn to the charity stripe to try and cut into the Colby lead as four of CCCC's final eight points in the second quarter would come from the free-throw line to cut the 15-point deficit down to 10 at 35-25 following a Paula Puzule runner to end the half.
Using a 5-2 spurt to get back within seven following a Kennedy Becker free throw, Cloud County would see Colby hit their fifth three of the game to go back-up double-digits at 40-30 with 7:57 left in the third quarter. Layups from Te Araroa Sopoaga and Becker would spark some life and momentum into the T-Birds as eight of the next 11 points would be scored by Cloud County while defensively CCCC would hold Colby without a made field goal for over three and a half minutes of game time. After getting to within five at 43-38, the T-Birds would see the Trojans net the next five points to go back up double-digits at 48-38 before ending the third quarter by scoring seven of the final 10 points to put the score at 51-45 heading to the fourth.
Despite multiple attempts to try and get within a possession early in the fourth, Cloud County would see Colby make another early push in the quarter to extend their lead to double-digits as things would begin to appear bleak with the score at 60-48 in favor of the Trojans with 6:33 remaining. Cox would hit her first of four fourth-quarter field goals with just over six minutes remaining to set off a 13-4 run over the next 3:33 of action as Puzule would cap off the run with a transition three on an assist from Cox to pull the T-Birds within a possession at 64-61.
The renewed life and momentum for CCCC would see Cloud County force a Colby turnover on the ensuing possession as Shakira Smith would find Puzule for her second-straight trey to tie the game at 64-64 in what would be the lone tie of the contest. Colby would then turn the ball over for the third turnover in a four-possession span before fouling the T-Birds following an offensive rebound and put back attempt that would put Cox at the free-throw line. A one-of-two outing would give the T-Birds their first lead since the opening minutes of the game as Cloud County would force yet another turnover that would lead to a transition layup for Smith to make it a 67-64 game with 1:13 left.
A determined Colby squad would stay composed and come down on their next possession to get a layup and foul on their way to completing a game-tying three-point play with 1:02 left. Cox would take the game over for Cloud County in the final minute, drawing to the hoop for a go-ahead bucket with 43 seconds left before committing a foul that would allow Colby to call a timeout and reset for a potential game-tying shot. The Trojans would take full advantage of the opportunity, getting a jumper in the paint that would fall through to tie things one final time at 69-69 as it would become Cloud County's turn in the chess match of timeouts to draw up a go-ahead shot. With just 10.1 seconds remaining, the ball would once again end up in Cox's hands as the Colby defense would stand tall in the paint forcing the Brooklyn, N.Y., native to attempt a step-back jumper just inside the three-point line that would put the T-Birds back up with 3.8 seconds remaining. A misplayed inbounds pass would force the Trojans into desperation mode from the top of the key as a potential attempt at a game-winning three would never get off after Cox would swipe the ball away which allowed for time to expire before a shot attempt would get off.
Torching the nets with a 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) fourth-quarter performance would allow the T-Birds to overcome a 33.3 percent (nine-of-27) performance in the first half as Cloud County would finish the game by going 25-of-57 (43.9 percent) from the floor and 17-of-28 (60.7 percent) from the free-throw line. On the other end, Col would go 23-for-63 (36.5 percent) from the field and hit on 18-of-23 (78.3 percent) of their free-throw attempts while also holding a 45-33 advantage on the glass as 16 of their 45 rebounds would come on the offensive end.
Cox's 24 points would be a game-high for both teams while Sopoaga would record a double-double for a third-straight game with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Becker would just miss out on a double-double by finishing with 14 points and nine rebounds off the bench while Puzule would score 11 points and add three steals. Colby was led by a team-best 17 points and four rebounds from De'ja Vigilante while Katelyn Alatini would net 14 points.
What's next?
Finishing as the number-10 seed in the upcoming NJCAA Region VI Tournament, Cloud County will be on the road at number-seven seed Dodge City for their opening-round game at a to-be-determined time on Saturday. The winner of the CCCC/DCCC game on Saturday will then play number-two seed Hutchinson who has a first-round bye, with tip-off on Monday set for 5:30 p.m. In the previous two matchups this season, Cloud County and Dodge City split the season series with each team winning on their home court. The T-Birds defeated the Conquistadors 87-5on December 13th before falling 67-57 in Dodge City on Feb. 12.