T-Bird women use big second half to cruise to win at Pratt

PRATT - Turning a seven-point halftime lead into a 61-43 lead heading to the fourth quarter, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would pick up just their third road victory of the year with an 82-62 win over Pratt Community College inside the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena in Pratt on Thursday.

Snapping a season-long five-game losing streak, the T-Birds pick up their fifth win of the year by 20 or more points while sweeping the Beavers in the regular season to improve to 11-12 overall and 7-10 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference. Pratt remains winless dating back to November 23, 2021, to fall to 2-18 overall and 1-15 in the KJCCC.

Finishing just shy of 50 percent from the floor, Cloud County would connect on 35-of-71 (49.3 percent) of their shots while hitting on 10-of-25 (40.0 percent) from beyond the arc to tie their highest-scoring output in league play this year despite shooting a total of three free throws. Outscoring Pratt 18-9 in second-chance points and 46-28 in points in the paint, the T-Birds would hold a commanding 46-28 advantage on the glass to make up for a 12-11 deficit in points off turnovers. Pratt would hit on just 23-of-59 (39.0 percent) of their attempts and also struggle from three by going five-for-24 (20.8 percent) from deep.

Scoring a game-high and matching a career-high with 24 points would be Rori Cox who also added seven steals and six rebounds in a team-high 38 minutes for CCCC. Te Araroa Sopoaga would make up for an off scoring night of six points by contributing nine assists and grabbing seven rebounds while Shakira Smith and Kay Hauata Phillips would both finish with 14 points. All 62 points for Pratt would come from their starting five, with Chariah Daniels netting a team-best 18 to go along with nine rebounds and six steals.

What's next?
Cloud County is back home for the next two games beginning on Saturday when the T-Birds play host to Barton Community College at 2 p.m. The Cougars have won four straight over CCCC dating back to the last time that the two teams played in Concordia which was back on January 9th, 2019. In that contest, Cloud County won 80-68 as the home team has won the past seven matchups. Barton last played on Wednesday and earned a 60-51 road win at Coffeyville to move to 12-11 overall and 9-8 in conference play.  

-cloudtbirds.com-