CONCORDIA - Fueled by a strong start, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would never trail as part of a 78-48 home victory to close out non-conference play against Northeast Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium in Concordia on Saturday.
The win moves the T-Birds to 5-4 overall while finishing out non-conference play with a 4-2 mark while the Hawks fall to 3-6 overall.
Clicking on all cylinders to start the game, Cloud County would waste no time jumping out to an early lead by scoring on each of their first three offensive possessions including a Paula Puzule triple to go up 7-0 in the opening 1:46 of the contest and force the Hawks into an early timeout. Kay Hauata Phillips would turn a Northeast turnover into points two minutes later to add to the CCCC lead as NECC would be held scoreless for the first 4:23 of the game to allow Cloud County to go up 10-0 before allowing any points. As the opening period went on, Northeast would start to find their offense to cut into the T-Bird lead, but CCCC would continue to have a strong offensive output by putting up 27 points in the opening 10 minutes with a Shakira Smith free throw in the final seconds staking the T-Birds to a 27-12 lead.
Held to just one field goal in the first five minutes of the second quarter, Cloud County would see Northeast open up the next stanza by scoring seven of the first nine points to get back within single digits at 27-18 with the only points for CCCC coming from a Puzule steal and layup. NECC would be able to get as close as eight by scoring five of the next six to cap off an 11-2 run over the first six-plus minutes of the quarter before seeing Cloud County score the only two points in the final 3:21 of the first half to hold a 33-23 lead at halftime.
The T-Birds wouldn't waste much time adding to their lead in the opening minutes of the second half, scoring the first six points including a pair of layups from Phillips to go up 39-23 with eight minutes left in the third. Northeast wouldn't back down, however, scoring seven of the next nine to pull back within 11 at 43-32 midway through the quarter before seeing CCCC have a response of their own by scoring 13 of the final 15 points of the quarter to go up past the 20-point mark at 56-34 heading to the fourth.
With the game in control, Cloud County would leave no doubt or opportunity of squandering their lead by outscoring Northeast 13-2 in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter with Smith putting the T-Birds up 67-36 with 6:37 left in the game. NECC would score six of the next eight to get the deficit back under 30, but it would only be temporary as the T-Birds would continue to find open shots and get layups to match the scoring output from the Hawks to net their fourth win by 20 or more points this season.
Connecting on 33-of-67 (49.3 percent) shots, the T-Birds would struggle from downtown going four-for-16 (25.0 percent) along with eight-of-13 (61.5 percent) from the free-throw line. CCCC would make up for the struggles with a commanding 50-31 advantage in rebounds including 14 offensive rebounds which led to 15 second-chance points while holding the Hawks to their second-lowest scoring output of the year.
Notching a career-high 16 points and six rebounds, Puzule would lead all players in the game in the scoring column and also provide two assists while Phillips scored 14 and added six rebounds of her own. Te Araroa Sopoaga added 11 points and nine rebounds to finish a rebound shy of a double-double while seven other players would also score at least two points.
What's next?
Cloud County returns to Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference play on Wednesday with a road trip to Liberal to take on Seward County inside the Green House at 6 p.m. The Saints held off Dodge City 69-62 on the road on Saturday afternoon to improve to 5-3 overall and 3-1 in the KJCCC.
Nov 28, 2021
Cloud County women's basketball wins big over Northeast
Posted Nov 28, 2021 2:01 AM