LIBERAL – Short rest coupled with a their longest road trip of the season would combine to play a role in a 101-86 loss for the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team at Seward County Community College inside the Greenhouse in Liberal on Friday.
The loss concludes Kansas Jayhawk Community College cross division play for the T-Birds who fall to 8-9 overall and 7-9in the KJCCC while Seward County improves to 12-4 both overall and in the KJCCC while remaining a game back of KJCCC West Division-leading Hutchinson.
The weekday afternoon start time would do little to slow down either team in the opening minutes of the contest as thee lead changes would be had in the first three minutes with CCCC matching SCCC offensively to jump out to a 6-5 lead on a Le'Yanna McGinnis jumper in the paint with 7:18 remaining in the first quarter. Seward County would then utilize a 9-0 run to go up 14-6 with just under four minutes left in the opening period as Cloud County would respond by scoring seven of the next nine to get back within three at 16-13.
Cloud County would fare better from the floor than Seward County by finishing 31-of-68 (45.6 percent) from the field, but hit on just three-of-11 (27.3 percent) of their attempts from three. The Saints would finish with a 40.8 percent (31-of-76) from the floor and hit on seven-of-33 (21.2 percent) from beyond the arc as the two teams would combine to shoot 68 free throws (41 by Seward County). Seward County would close out the quarter however by scoring seven of the next nine before a late Rori Cox fast break layup would bring the T-Birds back within six at 23-17 after one.
A second quarter battle would see Cloud County cut the deficit down to four on three separate occasions in the opening three minutes of the second quarter before finally getting within a point at 26-25 as Isabella Vazquez would hit her second triple of the game. Two three's from Seward County in a three possession span however would turn the one point lead into a five-point advantage for Seward County as the deep ball would continue to work for SCCC on their way to taking a double-digit lead with 3:14 left in the first half. Things would then become back and forth down the stretch of the opening 20 minutes as both teams would take advantage of the free throw line with Cloud County getting back within eight at 51-43 at the intermission break.
Things would quickly get pushed back out to a double-digit lead by Seward County to open the third quarter as the T-Bird defense would have no answer for SCCC. The lead for the Saints would hit the 15-point mark with 6:10 left in the quarter as CCCC would manage to keep the deficit from growing any larger for the next four-plus minutes of the game while eventually facing a 76-62 deficit heading to the fourth.
After a back-and-forth start to the final 10 minutes of action, Seward would start to take advantage of a wore down and depleted T-Bird squad as the 14-point deficit to start the quarter would grow to as many as 22 with just over four minutes remaining in the game. Cloud County would then go on an 8-0 run to back within 14 with 2:30 left but find the deficit to be too large to overcome in such a short amount of time as SCCC would let CCCC get no closer than 11 in the final minutes.
Finishing three points shy of a season-high, Cloud County would have four players in double-figures led by a team-high 25 points from McGinnis who would also grab three rebounds in limited minutes due to foul trouble. Both Cox (17 points) and Becker (12 points) would also reach double-figures along with Vazquez who matched a career-best with 12 points in 34 minutes of action. Seward County would utilize the two-headed monster of Sierra Morrow and Sierra Lynch as Morrow would score 41 points and grab 11 rebounds while Lynch would go seven-of-eight from the field to finish with 18 points.
What's next?
With just four games remaining in the regular-season, Cloud County will hit the road for three of their final four beginning on Wednesday with a trip to Independence to take on the Pirates. Indy is 14-4 overall and 12-4 in the KJCCC ahead of a road trip to El Dorado to take on Butler Community College on Saturday before hosting the T-Birds at 5 p.m. on Wednesday.
--cloudtbirds.com--