INDEPENDENCE, Kan. - A frenetic pace throughout the first quarter and into the second saw host Independence Community College outscore Cloud County Community College 26-20 in the opening 10 minutes as part of a 46-33 halftime lead that led to a 94-63 road defeat for the T-Birds inside the ICC Gymnasium in Independence, Kansas on Saturday, February 17th.
Unable to complete a regular season sweep of the Pirates, Cloud County falls to 13-12 overall and 9-11 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Independence improves to 14-11 overall and 8-11 in the KJCCC.
Eight made threes in the first half for ICC saw Cloud County outscored 24-9 from beyond the arc in the opening 20 minutes of play while also facing a 15-0 deficit in fast break points and 19-2 deficit in points off turnovers. A similar story was seen in the second half as the Pirates continued to shoot over 40 percent from beyond the arc by hitting another seven triples to finish with 15 made treys and outscore Cloud County 48-30 in the half while scoring 24 points in both the third and fourth quarters.
Second-chance points (17-9) and rebounding (49-36) were the only things to go in favor of CCCC on Saturday as Independence turned 21 T-Bird turnovers into 32 points and scored 26 fast break points compared to just two for Cloud County. As a team, the T-Birds shot 36.9 percent (24-of-65) from the field while seeing ICC go 36-for-77 (46.8 percent) from the floor and 15-of-34 (44.1 percent) from three to go along with a seven-for-nine (77.8 percent) effort from the charity stripe.
Cloud County's starting five accounted for all 63 CCCC points with
Maimouna Sissoko scoring a team-high 21 points and grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds while
Josephine Igherighe scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds.
Bailey Burns added 14 points while seeing
Darcy Lierz score 10 points with
Destiny Smith accounting for the final two points scored by CCCC. Independence had five different players in double-figures and was led by a game-high 24 points from Merveille Nkoyock.
What's Next?
Just one game is on the schedule for Cloud County next week with a 6 PM home contest on Wednesday, February 21st against Pratt Community College. PCC will enter the game with a 12-13 overall record and a 6-13 mark in the KJCCC after earning an 89-49 home win over the McPherson College JV team this past Friday for their third straight win. Earlier this season, CCCC defeated the Beavers 72-64 in Pratt behind a 28-point, 22-rebound effort from Sissoko.
