CONCORDIA, Kan. – In a game that featured nine lead changes and four ties, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would get a go-ahead layup from
Josephine Igherighe with 1:14 remaining before a
Destiny Smith triple with 15 seconds left to seal a 58-54 home victory over previously unbeaten Garden City Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Wednesday, November 29th.
Improving to 6-3 with the win, Cloud County picks up their second win of the conference season to move to 2-2 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference and 14th straight regular-season victory over the Lady Broncbusters going back to the 2016 season. Garden City is now 8-1 overall and 3-1 in the KJCCC after starting the year as one of the surprise teams in the Jayhawk Conference and even receiving votes in this week's NJCAA Division I Women's Basketball top-25 poll.
A clash in styles of play throughout the night would see Garden City look to get out in transition whenever the opportunity presented itself while the T-Birds would try to limit possessions and turn the contest into a half-court game which it would ultimately become with both either tying or setting new season lows in points scored. After seeing GCCC score the first five points of the game, Cloud County would get a layup from Smith at the 7:29 mark in the opening quarter to get on the board as the T-Birds would take their first lead of the game less than a minute later on a
Darcy Lierz open three off a pass from
Bailey Burns. The 7-0 CCCC spurt would continue with a
Maimouna Sissoko layup and free throw from Igherighe as Garden City would endure a 5:42 scoring drought that would end with a made bucket in the paint with 2:11 left in the period as the Lady Broncbusters would score the final eight points of the quarter to grab a 13-10 lead.
Starting the second quarter with possession, Garden City would use a layup to match their five-point lead from the opening quarter before seeing Cloud County use another Lierz triple to pull within two as Cloud County would manage to score 12 of the first 16 points of the quarter to take their largest lead of the first half at 22-17 with 4:20 left before halftime. After forcing GCCC to go through another scoring drought that would last 5:01, the Lady Broncbusters would follow with an 8-2 run to reclaim the lead at 25-24 with 1:17 left in the first half before allowing a pair of free throws by Igherighe to see Cloud County hold a halftime lead of 26-25 with 42 of the 51 combined points either coming in the paint or at the charity stripe.
Free throw shooting for both squads out of the break would account for the first five points scored as Garden City would connect on three of their four opportunities while seeing the T-Birds hit both of their attempts with things getting knotted back up at 28-28 with 8:21 left in the third quarter. The Lady Broncbusters would reclaim the lead with 6:18 left in the period before going on to build a game-high eight-point lead at 39-31 after outscoring Cloud County 11-3 over a span of 4:31 as the T-Birds would use a timeout following a layup from Sierra Driessen that would give GCCC their high-water advantage. Coming out of the timeout with a renewed focus, CCCC would get three-straight points from Lierz as part of a 8-1 run that would be capped off by a three-point play from Igherighe that would bring the T-Birds back within one at 40-39 with 58 seconds left in the quarter. Both teams would get a layup in the final minute of the period to keep the difference at just one as Cloud County would be outscored 17-15 in the quarter to trail 42-41 heading into the fourth.
For as back-and-forth as things were through 30 minutes of play, the trend would continue down the stretch as a
Nikki Harrison bucket to open the fourth quarter would be the first of three lead changes and two ties in the frame as neither team would hold a lead of more than five in the period. Following a game-tying free throw from Garden City, Cloud County would re-take the lead with a free throw from Igherighe before building their advantage to five at 48-43 with 6:49 remaining just to see the Lady Broncbusters battle back with an 8-0 spurt to go up 51-48. Igherighe would connect on a triple to tie things back up at 51-51 before seeing Garden City's Maya Nieto respond with a trey of her own to put GCCC back out in front as both teams would start to look for one final push to make the difference in the game. Getting to the free throw line would be CCCC as
Sarah Lawless would connect on two free throws to get Cloud County back within a point with 2:27 remaining before seeing both teams go empty on their ensuing offensive possessions. Regaining possession off a Lady Broncbuster turnover, Cloud County would turn to Igherighe who would get a pass in the lane from a driving Harrison and lay the ball up off the backboard and through the net to put Cloud County up 55-54 as defense would now be key in trying to win the game.
Forcing a missed layup on the Garden City end of the floor, CCCC would be unable to chew up the clock as a 10-second backcourt violation would give the ball right back to GCCC. Two more missed shots by Garden City would eventually see the ball fall into the hands of freshman
Kirya Mack who would clear things out and get the T-Birds back on the offensive where CCCC would use nearly the entire shot clock before a game-sealing three from Smith would be nothing but net for Cloud County to go up 58-54. A desperation three from GCCC on the next offensive possession would be off the mark with Lawless rebounding the ball as the final seconds would tick off the clock and knock the Lady Broncbusters from the list of unbeaten teams.
Saving their best shooting quarter for the fourth, Cloud County would finish the game 20-of-58 (34.5 percent) from the floor while going six-of-12 (50.0 percent) in the final period to outscore Garden City 17-12 in the final 10 minutes of play while hitting both three-point attempts in the quarter and going three-of-four (75.0 percent) from the charity stripe. For the game, CCCC would shoot 40.0 percent (four-of-10) from beyond the arc and 73.7 percent (14-of-19) from the free-throw line to offset a 41-40 rebounding deficit to the Lady Broncbusters who would also hold an 18-4 advantage in fast break points.
With both Sissoko and Lawless dealing with foul trouble throughout the night, it would be the duo of Igherighe (18 points) and Lierz (13 points) who would step up in big ways as Igherighe would score 15 of her points in the second half to go along with 11 rebounds for a double-double. As for Lierz, a career night would see the 13 points come on five-of-seven shooting in the freshman's first collegiate start while also recording four steals and four rebounds in 39 minutes of action. Garden City would get a team-best 16 from Driessen while Antonicia Moultrie would add 10 points and 12 rebounds.
What's Next?
The first of two December trips to western Kansas awaits Cloud County as the T-Birds will make the trek to Dodge City for a 1 PM tip-off on Saturday, December 2nd. The number-15 ranked Conquistadors are off to a 9-1 overall start and 3-1 mark in the KJCCC while trying to defend last season's KJCCC regular-season title. DC3 was at Pratt on Wednesday evening and pulled out a 90-88 road victory after seeing the Beavers miss a game-winning three-point attempt at the buzzer.
