CONCORDIA, Kan. – Scoring 17 of the first 19 points of the game, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would lead by as many as 27 to cruise to an 84-57 home victory over Pratt Community College inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Saturday, February 4th.
The victory for Cloud County allows the T-Birds to improve to 14-9 overall and 9-8 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while the Beavers have now lost seven straight contests to fall to 10-12 overall and 5-12 in the KJCCC.
It would take nearly three minutes for either team to find the scoring column to begin the game, but once CCCC got an offensive rebound and put back from
Alize Ruiz, it would be all T-Birds with a 6-0 lead quickly ballooning to double-digits as Cloud County would 12 of their 17 first-quarter points come from inside the paint. The other five points for the T-Birds in the opening quarter would come from the charity stripe as Cloud County would limit the Beavers to just one field goal in the period as PCC would go the final 5:42 of the quarter without scoring.
An early bucket from Pratt to begin the second would be offset by a pair of Ruiz free throws for Cloud County as the T-Birds would continue to attack the paint and add to their lead with the lead pushing past the 20-point mark at 25-4 with 5:38 left before halftime. Following a made
Lilly Smith trey to give CCCC their largest lead of the first half, Pratt would respond by scoring five straight points to cut into the CCCC lead slightly before eventually outscoring the T-Birds 13-8 over the final five minutes of the first half.
The 36-17 lead for Cloud County at the half would shrink all the way down to 11 in the opening two minutes of the third quarter as the Beavers would hit three consecutive three-point field goals on three-straight possessions to put the score at 39-28 with 7:57 remaining in the period. Needing a response, Cloud County would turn back to Ruiz who would get another offensive rebound and layup to keep the Beavers from getting within single digits. Pratt would continue their offensive surge to pull within 10 at 41-31 mid-way through the quarter before seeing CCCC respond by going on an 11-2 run to get on the verge of going back up 20 before eventually doing so in the final minute of the third on a
Josephine Igherighe layup.
In the fourth, PCC would hit a three to open the quarter and pull within 16 before back-to-back layups for CCCC would again put the T-Birds up 20 at 60-40 with Cloud County comfortably on top of the Beavers. The T-Birds would add to their lead throughout the quarter, never allowing their lead to dip below 20 the rest of the way while putting up their highest point total in any quarter by outscoring Pratt 28-22 in the fourth to set a new season-high in points in a game.
Just three days after shooting less than 25 percent from the floor, Cloud County would fare much better on Saturday by going 28-of-67 (41.8 percent) from the field and five-of-12 (41.7 percent) from beyond the arc. Free-throw shooting would also come in at an efficient 82.1 percent (23-for-28) for CCCC who would also outrebound Pratt 58-37 and outscore PCC 16-6 in second-chance points.
Putting up a new career-high in points would be Ruiz after a 29-point, 16-rebound performance by shooting 10-of-15 from the field and nine-of-10 from the free throw line to lead all players in the game in both categories. CCCC would also get an 18-point outing from
Maimouna Sissoko off the bench while Igherighe would finish one point shy of a double-double after a nine-point, 10-rebound performance. Pratt would get a team-best 21 from Princess Anderson along with 17 from Isis Sanders as the two would account for 38 of Pratt's 59 total points.
What's Next?
Cloud County's next three games will come against the top three teams in the KJCCC beginning on Wednesday, February 8th with a trip to Great Bend, Kansas to take on the 20th-ranked Barton Community College Cougars. Barton earned a 70-51 home win over Coffeyville on Saturday afternoon to improve to 19-4 overall and 13-4 in the KJCCC. In the previous meeting between the T-Birds and Barton this season, the Cougars came away with a 58-42 victory over CCCC in Concordia back on December 7th.
