CONCORDIA – Jumping out to a big first-quarter lead, the Cloud County women's basketball team would lead by as many as 24 points to take an 82-68 home win over Allen County Community College inside of Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday.
Earning their second straight win, Cloud County is now 9-13 overall and 4-8 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College conference while Allen falls to 6-14 overall and 1-10 in the KJCCC.
Allen's only lead of the game would come on the opening bucket with 8:45 remaining in the first quarter as the T-Birds would use a Jasmina Jones triple to go up 3-2 and spark an 11-0 run. Haven Hamilton would give CCCC their first double-digit lead of the game at 15-4 on a made layup with just over three minutes remaining in the opening quarter as Cloud County would extend their lead to 14 at 23-9 to end the opening period of play.
A 5-1 start by the Red Devils to begin the second quarter would bring Allen back within 10 at 24-14 as Cloud County would use a timeout to regroup 2:32 into the quarter. Allen would then close to within eight on a made jumper with six minutes remaining before halftime, but see Cloud County go back up 14 just three minutes later. Jacy Dalinghaus would get a layup and free throw with 2:33 remaining in the first half to give CCCC their largest lead of the half at 36-21 as the score would eventually settle at 38-26 going into the locker room at halftime.
The T-Birds would continue to grow their lead throughout the third quarter of play as the lead would never fall below 12 in the opening 10 minutes of the second half. Alyssa Castilleja would put Cloud County up 20 at 55-35 with 3:03 left in the third with things eventually ballooning to a 59-35 lead. Allen would manage to score 10 of the final 14 points of the quarter and build some momentum heading into the fourth despite trailing 63-45.
Offensive struggles would manage to find Cloud County in the final frame as a 6-2 start by CCCC would quickly be erased by an 8-0 Red Devil run to close back to 69-55 with 6:03 remaining. Two free throws by Allen just over a minute later would threaten to pull the Red Devils back within single digits with the margin eventually falling to 10 at 73-63. Dalinghaus would come up with a big layup on the next possession for Cloud County as the T-Birds would score five of the next eight points and manage to hold off the Red Devils despite sloppy ball handling in the final minutes.
Rebounding would be a boon for the T-Birds on the evening as a 56-37 advantage for Cloud County helped fuel a 22-9 advantage in second-chance points for CCCC. Cloud County would also outscore the Red Devils 44-26 in points in the paint and hold a 17-13 advantage in points off turnovers.
16 of a game-high 27 points for Dalinghaus would come in the first half as the freshman would add eight rebounds and two steals while Castilleja scored 15 and had four assists. Jones would join the duo in double-figures with 10 while LaKya Leslie and Kelsie Kelly each pitched in eight points. Allen would be led by a team-best 14 points from Courtney Crippen.
What's next?
Cloud County is back on the road for one final January road game on Saturday, with a trip to Independence to take on Independence Community College at 4 p.m. The Pirates are an even .500 overall at 9-9 and hold a 6-5 record in conference following a 79-60 road loss to Coffeyville on Wednesday night.
--cloudtbirds.com--