CONCORDIA – There was no stopping Cloud County Community College women's basketball sophomore Le'Yanna McGinnis on Wednesday night as the Olathe native would go for 35 points and nine rebounds to lift the CCCC women to a 74-61 home win over Coffeyville Community College inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium.
The win allows Cloud County to get back to .500 yet again this season at 8-8 overall and 7-8 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while dealing the Red-hot Red Ravens just their second defeat in their past nine games to fall to 10-4 overall and 9-4 in the KJCCC.
A back-and-forth start to the contest would see Cloud County jump out to a quick 5-2 lead in the opening 1:41 of the contest before Coffeyville would seem to find some offensive rhythm by scoring the next eight points courtesy of sophomore forward Faith Simpson who would score the first 10 points for the Red Ravens. Trailing 10-5 with 5:52 left in the first half, Cloud County would turn to McGinnis and Rori Cox as the duo would combine to score the next seven points of the game to allow the T-Birds to reclaim the lead at 12-10 with 2:46 left in the opening period. The two teams would then manage to trade the final six buckets of the quarter with the T-Birds managing to hold on to a 15-14 lead heading into the second quarter.
Five quick points from Cloud County while forcing Coffeyville into a 3:37 scoring drought to begin the second period would allow CCCC to push their lead out to six at 20-14 as the breathing room would provide some much needed momentum to the T-Bird bench. The next 12 points of the quarter would then be a back-and-forth affair between the Red Ravens and CCCC as Cloud County would not allow Coffeyville to close the gap any closer than three as an Isabella Vazquez triple with 58 seconds remaining would close out the first half and allow the T-Birds to enjoy a 30-24 halftime advantage.
Coffeyville would once again threaten to close the deficit completely to open the third quarter as Simpson would account for four of the first six points of the quarter to bring CCC within two before seeing a McGinnis layup and Sydni Keys steal and layup put things back at a six-point cushion for Cloud County. Another Vazquez three would push the T-Bird lead out to eight at 41-33, but a pesky Red Raven squad would refuse to go away as Coffeyville would score four straight to cut the lead in half. Following the spurt from Coffeyville, Cloud County would close out the third with six free throws and a McGinnis jumper while allowing the Red Ravens just two free throws to take their first double-digit lead of the game at 49-39 heading to the fourth.
Trying to avoid a late rally from Coffeyville, Cloud County would see the Red Ravens come out and score the opening five points of the final stanza before finally getting back on the board themselves with a Branda Boakye layup with 7:13 remaining in the game to stop the bleeding. The Red Ravens would close within five on two different occasions before seeing 4-0 spurts from Cloud County push the lead back out to nine each time as CCCC would be determined to find a way to hang on to victory. With things sitting at a 58-51 T-Bird lead, Cloud County would turn to Vazquez and McGinnis as the pair would score 13 of the next 17 points in the game to put the game out of reach in the final minute as CCCC would manage to go on to win by 13.
Points off turnovers would be one of the biggest keys to the game for Cloud County as the T-Birds would force 28 Red Raven turnovers which would lead to 22 points for CCCC to go along with a 16-8 advantage in fast break points. Each team would finish with 32 points in the paint and 32 rebounds as the game would otherwise be close from a statistical standpoint.
Of the 35 points from McGinnis, 15 would come in the fourth quarter alone as the sophomore would finish 13-of-19 from the field and playing 34 minutes despite rolling her ankle midway through the second quarter. Cox and Vazquez would score 12 apiece with the 12 from Vazquez coming off the bench in 15 minutes of action. Coffeyville would get a massive 18-point, 16-rebound performance from Simpson to lead the Red Ravens.
What's next?
Cloud County will finally be able to close out KJCCC West Division Play on Friday as the T-Birds will make their longest trip of the season to Liberal to take on Seward County Community College for a 2 p.m. tip-off. The Lady Saints were victorious on Wednesday night with a 67-60 home win over Dodge City to remain in a tie for second in the KJCCC West Division.
--cloudtbirds.com--