CONCORDIA – Committing a season-high 33 turnovers, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would have no answer for number-nine ranked Butler Community College in an 86-57 loss inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Monday.
Playing in their Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference East Division opener, the T-Birds would fall to 4-4 overall and 3-4 in the KJCCC while the Grizzlies remained unbeaten at a perfect 9-0 and now hold an 8-0 mark in conference.
After allowing the opening bucket of the game, CCCC would respond by scoring six of the next seven points to take their largest lead of the game at 6-3. Following back-to-back Grizzly baskets to put BCC back up by a score of 7-6, Cloud County would manage to jump back out in front thanks to a Le'Yanna McGinnis layup with 6:55 remaining in the first quarter. Butler would respond by scoring seven of the next nine points, but a Derin Akdeniz triple would bring CCCC back within a point at 14-13. Three-point shooting would be in play for the T-Birds on their next possession down the court as sophomore Rori Cox would get in on the action with her first three of the contest as Cloud County would keep pace with BCC throughout most of the opening period before seeing the final four points scored by the Grizzlies to make it a 20-16 contest at the end of the first.
A stout Butler defense would then take over to start the second quarter as the Grizzlies would score 10 of the first 10 points over the opening 4:19 of the quarter with CCCC's only two points coming on a pair of McGinnis free throws to open up a 30-18 lead. Things would continue to be all Grizzlies throughout the next four-plus minutes of the second as seven more BCC points would force the T-Birds to use a timeout as Cloud County's first and only field goal of the second quarter would come with three seconds left in the first half. The scoring drought by CCCC would allow the Grizzlies to open up a 42-20 halftime lead as Cloud County would shoot just one-of-10 from the field in the quarter.
As things moved over into the second half, Cloud County would be able to open the third on a 10-6 run to briefly cut into the Butler lead but the Grizzlies would have a response by scoring seven of the next eight to take a 55-34 lead midway through the quarter. The T-Birds would muster only one field goal and one free throw for the rest of the quarter as Cloud County would have no answer for the lockdown BCC defense they were defending.
In the fourth quarter, CCCC would put up a game-best 22 points in the quarter as things would finally start to open up for the T-Birds but the deficit would be too large to overcome. Despite getting eight points from Cox in the final 10 minutes of play, Cloud County would have to contend with a Butler team that would continue to rotate their players in and out to keep bodies fresh as the deficit would never fall below 27 before settling at 29.
Turnovers would be an issue for the T-Birds all night as the Grizzlies would force 33 Cloud County turnovers which led to 42 points for Butler. BCC would also hold a commanding 54-18 in points in the paint while outrebounding CCCC 50-44.
McGinnis would score a team-high 14 points and grab 11 rebounds while Cox would add 12 points off the bench while also recording three steals. Kennedy Becker would just miss out on a double-double on the night by finishing with eight points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes of action.
What's next?
The final game this week for Cloud County will see the T-Birds travel to Coffeyville to take on the Red Ravens at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Coffeyville was off on Monday after their game with Neosho was postponed due to health and safety precautions as the Red Ravens were last in action this past Saturday with a 62-58 road win at Dodge City.
--cloudtbirds.com--