Cloud County Women Conclude Season with Region VI Tournament Quarterfinal Loss to #1 Hutchinson
Trailing 12-2 five minutes into the game, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team saw a 10-point deficit grow to 22 at the end of the first quarter as part of a 90-56 road defeat to number one nationally-ranked Hutchinson Community College in the 2024 NJCAA Region VI Tournament quarterfinal round inside the Hutchinson Sports Arena in Hutchinson, Kansas on Tuesday, March 12th.
Ending their season for a second-straight season in the quarterfinal round of the Region VI Tournament, CCCC concludes their season at 15-16 overall while Hutchinson improves to 31-0 overall to advance to Friday's Region VI Tournament semifinal round against Barton Community College.
The 32-12 first-quarter deficit came as Hutchinson shot 66.7 percent (12-of-18) from the floor in the opening period to go along with a four-for-five (80.0 percent) effort from three with the Blue Dragons going on a 14-0 run following a Maimouna Sissoko layup to open the scoring in the opening minute of the contest. Stopping the run with a Sarah Lawless three-point play at the 4:47 mark of the first quarter, Cloud County saw HCC respond by scoring nine of the next 11 to open a 23-7 lead with just under three minutes left in the quarter before outscoring CCCC 9-3 down the stretch by scoring the final nine points of the quarter.
Trading made three-point field goals with the Blue Dragons to begin the second, Cloud County saw Hutchinson add to their lead with a 10-2 run that put the T-Birds in a 45-15 hole at the midway point of the quarter before scoring six of the final 11 points of the first half to keep the deficit under 30 at 50-21 heading into the intermission break. In the third quarter, CCCC matched Hutchinson throughout the opening five minutes of play by scoring six of the first 12 points to keep the deficit from growing until a made Hailey Jackson three with 3:40 left in the quarter that sparked a 5-0 spurt that was answered by a 5-0 Cloud County spurt capped off by a Cadence Nondorf layup. In the final minutes of the period, the T-Birds were able to pull within 25 following a pair of Bailey Burns free throws to trail 63-38 but gave up a fast break layup off the second free throw to trail by 27 heading to the fourth.
Down to their final 10 minutes of the season, Cloud County scored six of the first 11 points to keep the deficit from growing any but saw time continue to become a factor working against them as Hutchinson went on a 12-2 run to take their largest lead of the game with 2:31 remaining. CCCC managed to score four of the final six points of the game with field goals from Destiny Smith and Sissoko with the final margin being the largest loss of the season for CCCC.
As a team, Cloud County shot 32.3 percent (20-of-62) from the field and went five-of-25 (20.0 percent) from three following their best three-point shooting game of the year on Saturday at Cowley while going 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) from the charity stripe. Hutchinson finished one shot under 50 percent from the field, going 35-of-71 (49.3 percent) from the field and 12-of-29 (41.4 percent) from three while connecting on eight of their 11 (72.7 percent) free-throw attempts. The Blue Dragons outscored the T-Birds 38-28 in the paint and 30-0 in fast break points while getting 27 points off 17 CCCC turnovers as Cloud County was able to match HCC in second-chance points 11-11.
Individually, Cloud County got a game-high 18 points from Burns while Sissoko finished her T-Bird career with a 17-point, 11-rebound double-double. Joining the duo in double-figures was Smith with 10 points and eight rebounds with Lawless adding seven to go along with two points each from Darcy Lierz and Nondorf. Hutchinson got a team-best 16 from Hailey Jackson while Kiki Smith scored 13 of her 15 points in the first quarter for the Blue Dragons.