CONCORDIA, Kan. – Taking on a red-hot Seward County Community College team to kick off a stretch of three home games in the next eight days of action, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would see a five-point deficit heading to the fourth quarter turn into a 78-64 loss inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium in Concordia, Kansas on Saturday, January 29th.
A third-straight loss for the T-Birds drops Cloud County to 10-11 overall and 6-9 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Saints have now won six straight and 10 of their past 11 games to improve to 16-6 overall and 12-4 in the KJCCC.
Opening the game with a pair of second-chance points on a
Kay Hauata Phillips rebound and put-back layup, the T-Birds would get off to a rather slow start as Seward County would manage to hold CCCC without a field goal over the next 5:18 of game action to open up a 10-point lead at 14-4. Despite not being able to produce buckets from the field, Cloud County would take advantage of some early fouls from the Saints to hit on six of eight free throws in the opening quarter to not let SCCC get out to a big lead. Trailing by eight at 18-8 with 1:28 left in the opening period, the T-Birds would manage to end the frame by scoring five of the final seven points with
Rori Cox hitting a three to end the quarter and make it a 20-15 deficit after 10 minutes of action.
Two free throws for Seward County to open the second would put things back at a seven-point lead for the Saints, but the T-Birds would have a response by using a
Makayla Twyman layup to spark a 6-0 run that would turn into an 8-3 run to get CCCC within a possession at 25-23. Cloud County would manage to keep within striking distance over the next four-plus minutes of game action, keeping things at a three-point deficit until the final two and a half minutes of the half as
Miaya Ware and Phillips would connect on buckets on back-to-back possessions to give the T-Birds at 32-31 lead. After two Sierra Lynch free throws would allow SCCC to re-take the lead, the Saints would end the first half by knocking down their sixth three-point field goal of the half to go up 36-32 into halftime.
Layups from
Kennedy Becker and Phillips in the opening 1:38 of the third quarter would allow Cloud County to tie things back up at 36-36 in the opening stages of the second half, but it would be short-lived as another Saint triple would give Seward County some breathing room once again. The T-Birds would see the SCCC grow to as many as six at 45-39 mid-way through the quarter, but layups from Cox and Becker would make way for a
Paula Puzule trey that would give CCCC their first lead of the second half at 46-45 with 4:10 left in the third. Things would then become a back-and-forth contest for the next three minutes of game action as three lead changes would occur with neither team being able to take a lead of more than six the rest of the quarter. Back-to-back triples from the Saints would turn a two-point Cloud County lead into a four-point Seward County lead with two minutes left in the frame as Cloud County would 11-4 to end the quarter and face a 59-54 deficit at the end of the quarter.
With fouls mounting up on both sides, the free-throw line would prove to play a role in the final stanza as the T-Birds would be held without a point for the first 3:43 of the quarter which allowed Seward County to take a 12-point lead at 66-54. Puzule would knock down her third three of the game to end the scoring drought for CCCC and spark a 6-2 spurt that would get things back within single digits with just over four minutes left, but another late run to end a quarter by SCCC would see 10 of the final 14 points scored by the Saints which included four free throws in the final seconds to turn a 10-point victory into a 14-point win.
Outscored 30-12 from beyond the arc, Cloud County would also see Seward County hit 24-of-31 (77.4 percent) of their free-throw attempts while connecting on 14-of-20 (70.0 percent) of their opportunities at the charity stripe that would offset a 38-22 CCCC advantage in points in the paint. The T-Birds would manage to out-rebound the Saints 47-42 and collect 17 offensive rebounds which led to eight second-chance points but finished the game by shooting just 33.3 percent (23-for-69) from the field.
Becker would score a season-high 17 points and grab six rebounds for Cloud County while Phillips would net 15 points and haul in nine rebounds to finish one board shy of a double-double. Cox would also reach double-figures with 13 points but foul out late as CCCC would be whistled for 23 total fouls.
What's Next?
A short memory will be needed for CCCC as the T-Birds are set to turn around and play host to Cowley Community College in the first of two games between the Cloud County and Cowley in a span of 20 days after the originally scheduled date of January 12th was postponed due to health and safety protocols. The Tigers played host to Hutchinson Community College on Saturday night, falling by a score of 84-74 to the Blue Dragons.
