Women's Basketball | 3/9/2025 9:51:00 PM

Box Score The Cloud County Community College women's basketball team came up short in their first round Region 6 Women's Basketball Tournament game on Saturday, March 8, as the T-Birds fell at home to the Colby Trojans by a score of 56-55 to end the 2024-2025 season at 17-13 overall.

It was a sluggish start for the T-Birds, who trailed 13-10 at the end of the first quarter. Cloud County opened the second quarter by scoring the first four points of the period on a basket off the left side block by freshman forward Talasia Thomas followed by a pair of free-throws from freshman forward Lilliana Petersen to take a 14-13 advantage. The T-Birds and Trojans traded the lead four times over the next five minutes. Freshman guard Lauren Marron connected on a three-pointer at the top of the key to put Cloud County ahead at 22-20 with 3:51 remaining in the first-half. The T-Birds endured a difficult half of shooting, ending the first-half at 22.2 percent from the field, including 15.4 percent from behind the arc. Colby freshman forward Dessirae Ulmer scored on a layup with just over a minute remaining before halftime. The contest was tied at 22-all at the break.

Petersen led the T-Birds offense in the third quarter, drilling back-to-back three-pointers to give Cloud County a 28-24 advantage less than two minutes into the second-half. Petersen scored ten points in the third period, while sophomore guard Kiley Smich added five points off the bench. The T-Birds outscored the Trojans 19-14 in the frame to lead by as many as seven points before settling for a 41-36 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Marron buried her second trey of the game off an assist from Smich to give Cloud County its biggest lead of the afternoon at 44-36 to start the fourth. Colby scored seven straight points to cut the deficit to one at 44-43 with 8:08 to go. Cloud County remained calm and responded back with a 9-1 run of their own, capped off by Petersen's third triple of the game, to lead 53-44 with 5:21 remaining.

Petersen's three-pointer marked the final field-goal of the game for the T-Birds.

Ulmer recorded an offensive rebound off a missed three by Jera Kruleski and scored on an and-1 to tie the game at 54-all with 1:31 left in regulation.

Smich made one-of-two foul shots with 1:04 to play to put Cloud County up by one, 55-54.

Both teams came up empty on their next possessions.

T-Bird freshman guard DaNae Crosby stole the ball away from Ulmer on a backdoor pass from Sophie Bennett with three seconds remaining, but Crosby was whistled for a traveling violation while attempting to regain her composure, giving the ball back to the Trojans.

Ulmer scored the go-ahead basket off a baseline inbound lob from Bennett with 0.8 seconds remaining.

A timeout allowed the T-Birds to advance the ball to halfcourt, but Cloud County turned the basketball over on the inbound pass to wipe away any chance at a game-winning possession.

Petersen was the only T-Bird in double-figures. The 6'1" freshman from Omaha, Nebraska scored 21 points off 7-of-13 shooting with three treys to go along with a 4-of-4 effort from the free-throw line. Thomas had eight points and a team-high 14 rebounds, including nine defensive boards. Smich tallied seven points, seven rebounds and three assists. Marron finished with six points. Sophomore guard TiAna Davis chipped in five points, while Crosby and freshman forward Shea Wurtz had four points each.

Cloud County finished the game shooting 19-of-65 (29.2 percent) from the field, marking just the third time the T-Birds shot under 30 percent from the floor this season. Cloud County did make 8-of-25 (32.0 percent) shots from three-point range. The T-Birds also went 9-of-15 (60.0 percent) from the foul line.