Cloud County Women Return from Holiday Break, Put Together 70-53 Road Win at Coffeyville

Scoring four quick points in the opening 70 seconds of play, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would build a 14-point first-half lead and hold a double-digit lead for the entire fourth quarter on their way to a 70-53 road victory over Coffeyville Community College inside Nellis Hall in Coffeyville, Kansas on Wednesday, January 4th.

Earning their fourth straight win over Coffeyville, Cloud County improves to 10-5 overall and 5-4 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while moving within one game of the Red Ravens in the KJCCC Standings. Coffeyville falls to 10-5 overall and 6-3 in conference play with the defeat, dropping just their second home contest in 10 home games played this year.

The four early points would come courtesy of freshman Josephine Igherighe as Cloud County would score the first two buckets of the game before allowing five straight points to the Red Ravens to trail 5-4 with just over three minutes gone by in the first quarter. Responding with an Igherighe triple to go back up 7-5, the T-Birds would score nine of the next 11 points courtesy of three made shots from beyond the arc to go up 13-7 midway through the quarter. Cloud County would manage to finish the opening period with a spurt of five straight points that would turn a three-point lead into an eight-point lead as CCCC would hold an 18-10 lead after 10 minutes of action.

Pushing their lead to double digits in the opening minutes of the second quarter, Cloud County would remain in control of the contest through much of the second quarter. The lead for the T-Birds would grow to 12 at 24-12 on a Sarah Lawless made basket and eventually 14 in the latter stages of the first half with CCCC outscoring Coffeyville 15-11 in the second frame to extend their lead to 12 at 33-21 heading into the locker room at the half.

Matching their largest lead from the first half with a made bucket on their opening possession of the second half, Cloud County would go up 35-21 before seeing nine straight points from Coffeyville cut the lead down to just five at 35-30 with 6:10 left in the quarter. Turning to their post play, the T-Birds would get an Alize Ruiz three-point play to stop the run by the Red Ravens and spark a 7-1 run that would put Cloud County back up double-digits at 43-31 just two minutes later. Coffeyville would refuse to go away, however, getting the deficit back to single-digits and eventually seeing the score settle at 52-43 with just 10 minutes remaining as the T-Birds would need a strong fourth quarter to put away CCC.

Trading baskets to open the fourth quarter, Cloud County would get a made shot from Maimouna Sissoko and Lilly Smith three to match their largest lead at 14 with just under eight minutes remaining. The lead for the T-Birds would grow with another bucket from Sissoko as the Cloud County defense would hold Coffeyville scoreless over the next three-plus minutes of action. The scoring drought by the Red Ravens would allow the T-Birds to go up 17 at 62-45 which would be sustained down the stretch by Cloud County to earn a 17-point victory on the road.

Finishing the game with a 41.0 percent (25-of-61) shooting percentage from the floor, Cloud County would take advantage of a 32-16 advantage in points in the paint and outscore Coffeyville 17-2 in points off turnovers. The T-Birds would match the Red Ravens at the charity stripe with both teams hitting 15 free throws to go along with nine second-chance points from each team.

A game-high 25 points from Sissoko would go along with six rebounds for the freshman who would set a new career-high with her sixth game of the year in double-figures. Both Igherighe and Lawless would net 11 points each while Ruiz would score 10 points off the bench in 19 minutes of action. Coffeyville would have just one player reach double-figures and be led by a team-high 12 points from Kyleigh Ortiz.

What's Next?
Cloud County will play host to Garden City Community College on Saturday, January 7th for the first home game of 2023 for the Thunderbirds. Set for a 2 PM tip-off, CCCC will look for their 12th consecutive regular-season win over the Broncbusters dating back to the 2015-16 season having won each of the last 11 matchups in the regular season. GCCC is 7-8 overall and 3-6 in the KJCCC following a 66-58 home setback on Wednesday evening to Pratt.