CONCORDIA, Kan. – Turnovers were problematic for the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team Wednesday night as visiting Pratt turned 23 turnovers into 21 points to hand the T-Birds an 84-66 home defeat inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium in Concordia, Kansas on February 21st.
Suffering just their fourth home defeat of the season, Cloud County drops to 13-13 overall with the loss and 9-12 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while Pratt earns their fourth-straight win to improve to 13-13 overall and 7-13 in the KJCCC.
It was truly a tale of two halves for CCCC as the T-Birds led for 16 of the opening 20 minutes of the contest and shot over 47 percent from the floor in the first half before making just seven made field goals on 38 attempts in the second half (18.4 percent) while getting outscored 42-25 after the intermission break. After trailing 8-5 with 6:11 left in the first quarter, Cloud County managed to go on a 12-2 run to go up seven at 17-10 with the Beavers outscoring CCCC 5-2 the rest of the quarter to make things a 19-15 contest heading to the second. Extending their lead to eight in the first three minutes of the second, the T-Birds pushed their lead to their largest advantage of the night just past the midway point of the quarter by going up 35-25 on a
Sarah Lawless triple but once again saw a strong close to a quarter from PCC with 17 of the final 25 points of the first half being scored by Pratt to make it a 43-42 Cloud County lead at the break.
The lone made field goal for Cloud County in the third quarter came with 7:29 remaining in the quarter with
Maimouna Sissoko hitting an open three as the final six points of the period for CCCC came from the free throw line with a perfect six-of-six effort. A Princess Anderson triple with 6:29 left in the period allowed Pratt to reclaim the lead 48-46 and go on a 15-0 run to take a 60-46 lead as a scoring drought of 4:41 for the T-Birds created the double-digit deficit. Over the final three minutes of the quarter, Cloud County outscored Pratt 6-3 to cut a 14-point deficit down to 11 as CCCC trailed 63-52 going into the fourth. Following a made
Josephine Igherighe free throw with 9:46 left in the game to open the fourth quarter scoring, Cloud County saw Pratt go on a 10-2 run to push their lead back out to 18 at 73-55 as things continued to be problematic offensively for CCCC in the second half. A
Bailey Burns layup with 3:54 remaining stopped the run momentarily as the T-Birds managed to score seven of the next nine points to get back within 13 at 75-62 but no closer as Pratt finished the game off with nine of the final 13 points to close out a third-straight conference victory.
For the game, Cloud County shot 32.4 percent (24-of-74) from the field and five-of-19 (26.3 percent) from three while going 13-for-18 (72.2 percent) from the charity stripe. Pratt meanwhile shot 41.7 percent (30-of-72) from the floor and 38.5 percent (10-of-26) from three to overcome a 61-37 rebounding deficit that favored CCCC as the T-Birds grabbed 26 offensive rebounds. The Beavers held a 16-6 advantage in fast break points and 21-6 advantage in points off turnovers while outscoring CCCC 46-3 in bench points on the night.
Setting a new single-game rebounding record with 24 total rebounds was Sissoko after finishing with a team-high 21 points and adding one block while Igherighe scored 18 points and finished one rebound shy of a double-double. Burns added 12 to give CCCC three players in double-figures as no other player for Cloud County scored more than seven. Pratt got a game-high 44 from Anderson for her fourth game of 40 or more points this season as the sophomore added six rebounds, six steals, and three assists in 31 minutes of action.
What's Next?
Cloud County will have a full week to prepare for their next contest as the T-Birds will hit the road on Wednesday, February 28th for a 5:30 PM contest with Cowley Community College in Arkansas City. The Tigers earned a 75-59 home win Wednesday evening over Independence and head to Pratt on Saturday prior to their game with Cloud County which will serve as sophomore night as part of the final home game of the season for Cowley.
