Cloud County Women End Non-Conference Play with 71-41 Home Win Over Tabor JV
After getting out to a slow start and holding just a 10-9 lead after one quarter of play, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would outscore visiting Tabor College JV 61-32 over the final three quarters of action to take a 71-41 decision in their non-conference finale inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Thursday, November 16th.
A fourth consecutive win allows Cloud County to improve to 4-1 overall ahead of their 24-game Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference slate while Tabor JV falls to 1-5 overall with the loss.
Falling into a 3-0 hole while being held scoreless for the first 3:49 of action, the T-Birds would start the game by missing each of their first six shots while committing three turnovers before getting a Destiny Smith steal and layup to get on the scoreboard with 6:11 left in the first quarter that would prove to have points be at a premium. CCCC would then endure another two-plus minute scoring drought as Tabor JV would add a made field goal before allowing Cloud County to turn defense into offense once more with freshman Darcy Lierz getting a steal and converting into a fast break layup of her own. Trailing 5-4 with just over two minutes left in the opening period, CCCC would use a Bailey Burns layup to take their first lead of the contest at 6-5 before seeing the Blue Jays go on a 4-0 spurt to put the T-Birds back into a 9-6 hole with 37 seconds left. Cloud County would end the quarter by getting a pair of Braylee Dale free throws and another Lierz layup right before the final buzzer to score the final four points of the quarter and grab a 10-9 lead despite trailing for over eight of the opening 10 minutes.
A Tabor JV three to open the second quarter would once again put Cloud County back in a deficit momentarily as Dale would continue an aggressive opening half of play to get to the free throw line and hit on two more free throws that would knot the score at 12-12 with just over eight minutes left before halftime. Another trey from the Blue Jays would allow Tabor JV to reclaim the lead at 15-12 before taking their largest lead of the contest just 39 seconds later with another shot from deep that would put CCCC in a six-point hole with just over six minutes left in the period. Free throw shooting once again would allow CCCC to start digging out of the deficit as Dale and Sarah Lawless would score the next three points of the game at the charity stripe before adding a Dale layup to bring Cloud County within a point as Kirya Mack would get a transition layup off a steal to put the T-Birds back out in front at 19-18. Once again, Tabor JV would turn to three-point shooting to force another lead change before a pair of Cloud County free throws coming from Dale to tie things one final time at 21-21 as the T-Birds would end the first half with an 8-1 run to put some separation between them and the Blue Jays while leading 29-22 heading into halftime.
Wasting no time adding to their lead, Cloud County would begin the second half with a made layup from Josephine Igherighe before getting a Lierz triple off an inbounds play to push their lead to double-digits for the first time on the night as CCCC would score 10 of the opening 15 points of the third quarter to go up 39-27 with 4:57 left in the quarter. Matching Tabor JV point for point over the ensuing two minutes of action, the T-Birds would add to their lead late in the quarter as free throws from Mack and Dale along with a Maimouna Sissoko layup in the final minute of the period to cap off an 18-9 third quarter scoring difference that would give Cloud County a comfortable 16-point advantage.
In the fourth, The T-Birds would pour things on as defense would continually lead to easy points on the other end of the court with four possessions in a five-possession span for Cloud County coming off defensive steals and ending in made layups to put CCCC up 57-31 with just over eight minutes left. As the quarter would go on, Cloud County would have little difficulty in finding ways to score as the lead would grow to as many as 34 at 65-31 with 4:57 remaining with the deficit for Tabor JV never getting below 30 again the rest of the way.
Shooting just 31 percent (nine-of-29) from the field in the first half, Cloud County would have a much different outcome in the second 20 minutes of play as the T-Birds would hit on 18-of-28 (64.3%) of their field goal attempts in the third and fourth quarters of play to finish the game with a 47.4 percent field goal percentage (27-of-57) while going three-for-12 (25.0 percent) from beyond the arc. 48 of Cloud County's 71 points would come in the paint while the T-Birds would turn 24 Tabor JV turnovers into 29 points offensively while also scoring 14 second-chance points.
A balanced effort would see three different players reach double-figures and seven players score at least seven points each for CCCC with Dale leading the charge with a team-high 12 points and 12 rebounds in 27 minutes of action. Eight of the 12 points for Dale would come at the free throw line while grabbing nine of her 12 rebounds on the defensive glass while also providing two steals. Mack would score 11 points off the bench with eight points coming in the fourth quarter while Lierz would set a new personal-best with nine points and six steals. Tabor JV would not have a single player reach double-figures and were led by a team-high nine points from Kaylee Kauffman.
What's Next?
Cloud County will cap off a five-game home stand with their KJCCC opener on Saturday, November 18th when Seward County Community College makes its way to Concordia for a 2 PM tip-off. The T-Birds and Lady Saints split last season's home-and-home series, with both teams winning on their home courts. In the game in Concordia last year, Cloud County earned a 62-55 win in a game that had 10 ties and 13 lead changes throughout while outscoring SCCC 31-25 in the second half to earn a seven-point win. Seward County is off to a 3-0 start this season and last played on Monday night when they won a 93-86 game over Cisco College on the road.