Cloud County Women Hold Off Pratt for 72-64 Road Win

In a game that saw two contrasting styles of offensive play, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team overcame a 27-3 deficit in points from beyond the arc by outscoring host Pratt 17-3 in second-chance points and 46-28 in points in the paint to earn a 72-64 road win inside the Dennis Lesh Sports Arena in Pratt, Kansas on Saturday, January 6th.

Earning their second-consecutive win overall and second-straight road victory, Cloud County improves to 9-5 overall and 5-4 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College while Pratt falls to 7-6 overall and 2-6 in the KJCCC.

Forcing five missed shots and two turnovers in the opening four minutes of play, Cloud County jumped out to a 9-0 lead as the trio of Josephine Igherighe, Maimouna Sissoko, and Bailey Burns all connected on shots to put the T-Birds on the verge of going up double-digits. A made three from Pratt ended the run for CCCC as the Beavers put together a 13-2 run to take the lead at 13-11 on a fastbreak triple from the leading scorer in the conference Princess Anderson as Cloud County was limited to just one field goal from Sissoko over the span of 3:05. Tying the game back up with an Igherighe layup, CCCC reclaimed the lead with a Sissoko bucket and managed to get one more field goal from Igherighe before the end of the quarter as the T-Birds outscored the Beavers 4-3 in the final three minutes of the quarter to hold a 17-16 lead heading into the second.

Continuing to attack the paint, Sissoko scored the first four points of the quarter to allow Cloud County to push their lead back to five before seeing a pair of Pratt triples allow Pratt to get back within one as Darcy Lierz connected on one of her two made field goals in the game to keep PCC from retaking the lead. The one-point advantage for the T-Birds didn't last long however as Pratt turned a steal into a fastbreak layup to go back up by a score of 26-25 before seeing CCCC's Sarah Lawless split a pair of free throws to tie things one final time at 26-26. Pratt turned their ensuing offensive possession into their sixth and final three-point field goal of the first half before extending their lead to five at 31-26 as the lead was held over the next three minutes before a 6-0 run by Cloud County in the final 1:51 of the half allowed the T-Birds to reclaim the lead at 36-35.

Using a pair of Igherighe free throws to add to their lead in the opening minutes of the second half, Cloud County managed to keep Pratt tying things back up as both Sissoko and Igherighe continued to put on strong performances after both finished one rebound shy of a first-half double-double. The pair managed to score six of the first eight points of the third quarter to push CCCC's lead to five as the lead grew to seven at 46-39 with 3:54 left in the quarter after Igherighe scored the fifth and sixth of her 12 third-quarter points. The Cloud County lead managed to get as high as eight in the quarter at 50-42 before seeing Pratt make a run to close out the quarter by scoring 10 of the final 16 points to get back within four at 56-52.

In the fourth, Cloud County continued to rely on attacking the paint and controlling the glass as six of the first nine points came inside the T-Bird offensive paint to push the lead to seven at 62-55. Despite the deficit, the Beavers continued to throw up a multitude of shots from beyond the arc to keep things close and pull within two with 7:12 remaining as both teams very much still had a chance to take control of the contest. A bucket from Sissoko followed by a PCC turnover led to another easy field goal for the Bamako, Mali native as Cloud County put together a 6-0 spurt over the next four minutes of game action to extend their lead to eight at 68-60. A missed opportunity at the free throw line for Pratt saw Beaver starter Isis Sanders split a pair of attempts with a chance to bring PCC back within two possessions as the two teams went a span of 2:37 without a made field goal. Breaking the drought was Sissoko with her final field goal of the game to put Cloud County up nine as the T-Birds added one final bucket from Igherighe with 1:24 remaining to go up double-digits. The last 1:14 of the contest saw just one made field goal with Anderson of Pratt hitting a three to bring PCC back within eight, but two missed Beaver triples and a CCCC turnover accounted for the remaining time on the clock as CCCC escaped to pick up the eight-point victory.

For the game, Cloud County shot 40.6 percent (28-of-69) from the floor despite hitting just one-of-12 (8.3 percent) of their three-point attempts while going 15-for-18 (83.3 percent) from the charity stripe. Pratt saw nine of their 26 total made field goals come from three as the Beavers shot 37.1 percent (26-of-70) from the floor and nine-of-32 (28.1 percent) from deep while shooting just seven total free throws and making three (42.9 percent). An astounding 62-26 advantage on the rebounding glass saw the T-Birds nearly finish with as many offensive rebounds (19) as Pratt had defensive rebounds (22) with Cloud County overcoming a 23-turnover game.

Scoring a career-high 28 points while tying a single-game school record with 22 total rebounds, Sissoko was one of three T-Birds in double-figures and was joined by Igherighe who tied her career-high with 26 points and Burns who added 12. The 22-rebound record was previously accomplished by Erin Alexander against Garden City (2015-16) and Renee Bruggeman against Colby (1989-90) with the 16 defensive rebounds for Sissoko also tying a single-game program record set by Alexander against Clarendon (2015-16), and Klara Wischer vs Cowley (2010-11). Igherighe also notched 14 rebounds to finish with her third double-double of the season while Burns had four rebounds and four assists. Pratt got a game-high 32 points from Anderson who went 14-of-33 from the floor and had six steals.

What's Next?
Cloud County has their first of two byes within the KJCCC schedule due to the odd number of teams playing at the NJCAA Division I level as the T-Birds will have Wednesday off before playing host to Cowley Community College at 2 PM on Saturday, January 13th. Following a 7-0 start to the season, the Tigers dropped six straight before earning wins in each of their past two contests including a 77-60 road win over Independence on Saturday. Cowley will host Pratt at 5:30 PM on Wednesday in their final game before their trip to Concordia. In last season's matchups, both Cloud County and Cowley won on their home courts with the Tigers earning a 90-56 win before the T-Birds returned the favor later in the year with an 80-65 home win.