Cloud County Women's Basketball Powers through Slow Start to Top Bethany College JV, 76-68

Despite being held without a made three-point field goal and trailing for nearly 30 minutes of action, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would overcome a 14-point third-quarter deficit to earn a 76-68 home win over Bethany College JV inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Monday, November 13th.

The win is Cloud County's third in a row to improve to 3-1 on the season.

From the opening tip, Bethany JV would come out with a hot hand by connecting on each of their first four shots of the game to jump out to an 11-2 lead as three of the first four field goals would come from beyond the arc while seeing the T-Birds held to just one made bucket by Braylee Dale over the opening two minutes of play. A three-point play from freshman Bailey Burns would end what had become a 9-0 Swede run as the Lee's Summit, Missouri native would add a second-straight three-point play to get Cloud County back within three at 11-8 with the two contrasts in styles becoming very apparent. Bethany JV would respond by turning again to shooting from range and connecting as the lead would again grow to eight at 23-15 on the seventh made triple of the quarter by the Swedes before seeing a layup as time expired from Sarah Lawless bring the T-Birds back within six at 23-17 to end the quarter.

Quick baskets by Burns and Dale would see CCCC cut the six-point lead down to just two at the 9:37 mark of the second quarter with CCCC eventually pulling within one on a Josephine Igherighe layup a minute later with the score now sitting at 24-23. A 7-0 Bethany JV run would push the deficit back to eight mid-way through the quarter with the lead for the Swedes eventually getting to double-digits at 35-25 with 4:01 left before halftime. Stopping an 11-2 run with a Maimouna Sissoko layup, Cloud County would get the deficit back within single digits before seeing Bethany JV make another push with five straight points to take their largest lead of the half at 40-27 before seeing CCCC close out another quarter with the final points as a made Bryanna Simmonds jumper would send things to halftime with Bethany holding a 40-29 lead.

Taking the opening possession of the second half and converting with yet another made three, the Swedes would push their lead to a game-high 14 at 43-29 before seeing a rally by Cloud County come in the form of an 8-2 run with all eight T-Bird points coming either in the paint or at the charity stripe. Having gotten the deficit back within single digits, CCCC would continue to chip away at the lead over the remaining six-plus minutes of the third as a 9-0 run to end the period would see Cloud County pull even with Bethany JV for the first time since the opening tip after holding the Swedes scoreless for the final 4:34 of the quarter.

Trading buckets to begin the final 10 minutes of action, Cloud County would see the Bethany barrage from three continue with one of two made treys in the fourth by the Swedes putting CCCC back into a 55-52 deficit briefly before seeing Dale score on back-to-back offensive possessions to give the T-Birds their first lead of the night with 8:14 remaining. Dale would add two free throws a minute later to put Cloud County up three as the lead for CCCC would remain within one possession of Bethany JV until a made layup from Burns at the midway point of the quarter that would extend the lead to 65-60. Refusing to go away would be the Swedes however as the T-Birds would be unable to add to their lead until a made layup from Darcy Lierz with 2:39 remaining that would grow the Cloud County lead from four to six with time starting to dwindle to the benefit of CCCC. Made free throws on separate possession for Bethany JV would get the Swedes back within four with two minutes left, but four points by Cloud County the rest of the way would seal the deal as the T-Birds would be able to close out a come-from-behind victory.

Limited to just a 34.6 percent (27-of-78) shooting percentage on the night, Cloud County would be unable to convert any of their 16 three-point attempts while going 22-of-31 (71.0 percent) from the charity stripe and scoring 52 of their 76 points in the paint. Bethany JV would shoot 35.5 percent (22-of-62) from the field and 43.3 percent (13-for-30) from three while going 11-of-22 (50.0 percent) from the free throw line as the difference in free throws very much played a role in the outcome of the game. CCCC would hold a 65-30 advantage in rebounds and also force 18 Bethany turnovers that would lead to 15 points for the T-Birds.

A career night for Dale would see the sophomore finish with 28 points and nine rebounds while going a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line in addition to recording two steals while Burns would add 21 points and four rebounds. Another monster game from Sissoko would see 17 points and 19 rebounds coming from the Bamako, Mali native as the remaining seven players for CCCC to play in the contest would combine for just 10 points. Bethany JV would get a team-high 18 points from Kalysa Hamel off the bench as four players would reach double-figures in the game.

What's Next?
Non-conference play concludes for CCCC this coming Thursday, November 16th as the T-Birds will play host to the Tabor College JV team at 6 PM. Tabor JV has already played Cowley, Butler, and Pratt Community College this season, having dropped all three decisions on the road.