HUTCHINSON, Kan. – Efficient shooting with a 42.6 percent field goal percentage was not enough for the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team in a 93-63 road loss to number-two nationally-ranked Hutchinson Community College inside the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas on Saturday, February 10th.
Ending a stretch that saw three of their past four games come against teams either ranked or receiving votes in the NJCAA Division I Top-25 poll, Cloud County falls to 12-11 overall and 8-10 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference with six games remaining in the regular season while the host Blue Dragons improve to a perfect 23-0 overall and 17-0 in the KJCCC.
Winning the opening tip-off and taking their lone lead of the game with a made
Bailey Burns triple, CCCC quickly fell into an 11-3 deficit as the Blue Dragons used an 11-0 run over the span of 3:56 to threaten to take a double-digit lead midway through the opening quarter. Ending the Blue Dragon run with a pair of made free throws by Burns, Cloud County scored six of the next nine points to get back within five at 14-9 with 3:15 left in the first before seeing HCC respond with seven straight points to push their lead out double-digits at 21-10 with just under two minutes left in the period. A pair of free throws from
Maimouna Sissoko and a
Josephine Igherighe layup allowed Cloud County to get back within eight at 21-13 until a buzzer-beating Akaysha Muggeridge triple to give Hutchinson an 11-point lead at 24-13.
The HCC lead was extended to 14 at 30-16 with 8:32 left in the first half and again 42 seconds later as the T-Birds saw the Blue Dragons make each of their first five shots from the floor in the second quarter. After getting back to within 10 at 32-22 on a steal by
Destiny Smith leading to a made Igherighe layup, CCCC was held scoreless for a span of 4:23 leading to Hutchinson extending their lead back to 16 at 42-26. Each of the next eight points were traded back-and-forth with the first half coming to a close until a steal and layup for Hutchinson's Journey Armstead to close out the quarter and head into halftime with a 48-30 lead.
A 7-0 Blue Dragon run in the opening two minutes of the second half saw an 18-point halftime deficit grow to 25 at 55-30 for Cloud County with the first points of the third quarter for CCCC not coming until a Sissoko three-point play with 6:42 left in the quarter. Back-to-back steals and layups for HCC was followed by a made Hutchinson triple to see the lead grow to over 30 points for the first time on the day as the Blue Dragons were seemingly hitting from all areas of the floor. A quick response from the T-Birds saw sophomore
Sarah Lawless connect on a three of her own to spark a 12-5 run by Cloud County to get back within 25 at 70-45 until giving up another trey to end a quarter with Kahlen Norris connecting right before the horn to put Hutchinson up 73-45.
Not much changed in the fourth as the Blue Dragons and T-Birds traded points back and forth with HCC matching their game-high 32-point lead at 80-48 before a 6-0 rally by Cloud County to make the score 80-54 with 4:50 left in the contest. Down the final stretch of the game, CCCC was outscored 13-9 with the final margin of victory for Hutchinson finishing at 30.
With both teams shooting over 40 percent from the floor, CCCC saw a 23-for-53 (42.6 percent) effort from the field prove not to be enough as Hutchinson shot 52.9 percent (37-of-70) from the field and 46.2 percent (12-for-26) from three despite hitting just 53.8 percent (seven-of-13) free throw attempts. 21 T-Bird turnovers led to 29 points for the Blue Dragons with HCC outscoring Cloud County 29-11 in points off turnovers and 46-28 in points in the paint to overcome a 36-34 rebounding advantage for CCCC.
Eight total players worked their way into double-figures in the contest including three for Cloud County with Igherighe scoring a team-high 19 points and grabbing nine rebounds. A 17-point, 12-rebound double-double for Sissoko went along with a 13-point outing for Burns with no other player for CCCC scoring more than seven in the game. As for Hutchinson, the Blue Dragons were led by a game-high 20 from Smith while seeing Muggeridge and Armstead each finish with 15.
What's Next?
After two games against top-15 opponents, Cloud County will see three of their next four games come against three of the bottom four teams in the KJCCC standings beginning with a home game against Colby Community College at 6 PM on Wednesday, February 14th. The T-Birds will be going for a season sweep of the Trojans and their fourth-straight win against Colby dating back to the 2022 season. Since the 2014-15 season, Cloud County has won 12 of the 15 matchups with Colby.
