COFFEYVILLE, Kan. – A slow offensive start followed by a big push to begin the second half would not be enough for the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team to overcome their first ranked opponent of the year on the road as part of a 74-63 loss to number-24 nationally-ranked Coffeyville Community College inside Nellis Hall in Coffeyville, Kansas on Tuesday, November 21st.
Falling for the first time since their season-opening game on November 4th, Cloud County is now 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Coffeyville picks up their seventh win of the year to improve to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the Jayhawk Conference.
Following an initial start that would see CCCC push the ball into the paint and attack the rim leading to four free throws in the opening minute and a 3-0 T-Bird lead, Coffeyville would respond by scoring four straight points to force the first of what would become five lead changes in the contest. Cloud County would use a made
Bailey Burns triple to go back up by a score of 6-4 before seeing back-to-back Red Raven treys put Coffeyville up 10-6 with 5:03 left in the opening period as part of a 12-0 run that would put the T-Birds into a 16-6 hole with just under three minutes left in the quarter. Ending a stretch of four-plus minutes with a made three by
Darcy Lierz, CCCC would score eight of the final 11 points of the first to cut the deficit back down to five at 19-14 heading into the second.
The sixth made three by Cloud County in the first half would open the next period as
Maimouna Sissoko would step out and hit off an inbounds pass to bring CCCC within two as the T-Birds would manage to tie things up over the first two minutes of the quarter at the charity stripe with
Braylee Dale and
Josephine Igherighe both connecting on one-of-two attempts. Two more free throws from Sissoko would turn a 20-19 Cloud County lead into a 22-19 lead for CCCC as the first three minutes of the quarter would be scoreless for Coffeyville until a made three from Kyleigh Ortiz that would tie the game at 22-22. After the scoring drought for the Red Ravens, the T-Birds would face a drought of their own which would allow Coffeyville to score 16 straight points to turn things into a 35-22 lead until a second made three from Lierz to get Cloud County back within 10. Unfortunately for CCCC, Coffeyville would score the final six points of the half as the three would be one of only two made baskets from the field by Cloud County in the quarter to trail by a score of 41-25 heading into halftime.
Breaking a trend of only hitting shots from outside the arc, Cloud County would connect on a
Destiny Smith free throw before getting a Sissoko made shot in the paint as the T-Birds would look to renew their focus on getting points in the paint to try and cut into the Coffeyville lead. The effort would pay dividends as CCCC would get three straight Sissoko buckets in the paint before getting a Dale turnaround shot and Burns triple to get within four while capping off a 14-0 run to start the second half with a made Lierz jump shot. Coffeyville would respond by ending what had been a scoring drought of 5:29 to start the third quarter with a bucket that would be answered by another Lierz basket before a 7-0 Red Raven run that would push things back out to a nine-point contest with the two teams trading the final four points of the quarter to put things at a 52-43 game with just the fourth quarter remaining.
Scoring five of the opening eight points of the final frame, Cloud County would manage to get back within seven at 55-48 following a pair of free throws from Smith before seeing five straight points from Coffeyville open things back up to a double-digit lead at 60-48. Two free throws from Sissoko followed by a Smith layup would get the T-Birds back within single digits as the back-and-forth in the quarter would continue and ultimately not allow CCCC to get any closer than seven. Trailing 64-57 with 3:31 remaining, Cloud County would see Coffeyville's 10th triple of the night push things back out to a 10-point lead at 67-57 and all but put things out of reach for good as the T-Birds would never be able to make a late push and cause late tension to the Red Ravens.
Held to a season-low 28.4 percent (19-of-67) shooting percentage, CCCC would hit a season-best eight triples while going eight-of-30 (26.7 percent) from beyond the arc. Coffeyville would hit on 22-of-64 (34.4 percent) of their shots while making 11 treys and shooting 35.5 percent (11-of-31) from three to go along with a 76.0 percent (19-of-25) effort from the charity stripe. Rebounding would be deadlocked at 49-all with Coffeyville edging CCCC in points in the paint 20-18 to go along with 25-12 advantage in points off turnovers.
Reigning KJCCC Player of the Week Sissoko would score a team-high 18 and grab 13 rebounds alongside a 13-rebound effort from Dale while both Lierz and Smith would score 11 points each. CCCC's next-highest scorer would be Burns with nine points as only seven players would score in the contest for the T-Birds with Coffeyville getting a game-high 22 from Ortiz as four players would reach double-figures for the Red Ravens.
What's Next?
A second-straight ranked foe awaits Cloud County as the T-Birds will return home to take on number 25 Barton Community College for the fourth time in the past two seasons. Barton won all three matchups between the two teams last season but fell on Tuesday night to Pratt by a score of 99-89 on the road to fall to 5-2 overall and 1-1 in the KJCCC.
