Igherighe's Career Day Powers Cloud County Women's Hoops to Road Win at Colby
A career day for sophomore Josephine Igherighe of 26 points and 14 rebounds would help lead the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team to a 69-53 road victory over Colby Community College inside the Colby Events Center in Colby, Kansas on Sunday, December 10th.
Getting back into the win column for the first time in three tries in December, Cloud County improves to 7-5 overall and 3-4 in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference while sending Colby to a 4-7 overall record and 0-6 mark in the KJCCC.
Despite seeing a total of 27 points scored in the opening quarter of action, just four points total would be scored through the first 3:28 of game action as the two teams would start a combined one-of-11 from the field to go along with two missed free throws. With things tied at 2-2 after four minutes of game time elapsed, Cloud County would get a pair of Maimouna Sissoko free throws to take their first lead of the afternoon as the next eight points of the game would be scored by the T-Birds and come from the charity stripe with CCCC getting into the bonus with over three minutes left in the period. Continuing to add to their run with an Igherighe three-point play, Cloud County would go up 13-2 with 1:51 remaining in the quarter before seeing Colby end what had become a nearly seven-minute scoring drought with a scoring explosion of 12 points (8-4 in favor of the Trojans) coming in the final 95 seconds to see Cloud County hold a 17-10 lead after one period of play.
Layups from Sissoko and Sarah Lawless in the opening 1:05 of the second quarter would allow Cloud County to quickly push their lead back out to double-digits at 21-10 as CCCC would score eight of the first nine points of the quarter to grow their lead to 14 with 7:24 left before halftime. Finding some success from beyond the arc, the T-Birds would get made triples from freshman Darcy Lierz and sophomore Destiny Smith to add to their lead and go up 33-17 with just over a minute remaining before halftime as Cloud County would close the half with eight of the final 12 points to grab their largest lead of the half at 33-17 heading into the intermission break.
After building their lead throughout the first half, the T-Birds would see an 8-2 run by Colby to start the third quarter quickly cut into the CCCC lead as the once 16-point advantage would be dropped down to 10 on a Stella McIntrye triple with the lead eventually dropping down to single digits at 37-28 with 6:14 remaining in the quarter. Using an Igherighe fast break layup and Bailey Burns free throw to go back up 12, Cloud County would see four straight points from Colby once again bring the lead back down to single-digits at 40-32 before turning back the Trojans with a made Lierz three and Igherighe three-point play to go back up 14 at 46-32 with just under three minutes left in the period. Exchanging six free throws over the next two-plus minutes of action, CCCC would maintain their advantage before getting a made jumper from Smith at the final buzzer for the quarter as the lead would once again reach 16 to give the T-Birds breathing room heading into the final 10 minutes of action.
A push from Colby in the opening minutes of the fourth would see the Trojans score the first five points of the final frame to threaten to close within single digits again as Cloud County would go scoreless over the first 2:07 before getting an Igherighe layup with a size advantage in the paint continuing to pay dividends. Following the layup, Colby would score four quick points to cut the advantage down to nine at 53-44 before seeing another Igherighe three-point play turn back a potential rally by Colby as nine of the next 11 points would be scored by CCCC to match their largest lead at 62-46. With time starting to become an issue for the Trojans, Cloud County would take advantage of being in the bonus to get to the free throw line where a 24-of-32 (75.0 percent) effort would see the T-Birds make 10 of their 11 attempts in the fourth to put the game away for good as the lead would threaten the 20-point mark before settling at a 16-point CCCC victory.
Outscoring Colby 32-24 in the paint and 26-19 off points off turnovers, Cloud County would shoot 35.6 percent (21-of-59) from the field and three-of-19 (15.8 percent) from three while holding Colby to a 20-of-59 (33.9 percent) outing and five-of-17 (29.4 percent) effort from three. The final rebounding margin would see the T-Birds hold a 43-39 advantage with both teams grabbing nine offensive rebounds with CCCC leading for nearly 36 minutes of game time.
Igherighe's 26-point outing would surpass her previous career mark of 25-points set last March against Northwest Kansas Tech while the 14 rebounds would be three better than her previous high of 11 that she recorded on two separate occasions. Sissoko would add 15 points, seven rebounds, and four steals while Burns would pitch in eight with four other T-Birds accounting for the remaining 20 points. Colby would have two players in double-figures and be led by a team-high 13 points from McIntyre.
What's Next?
Cloud County's next game will not come until Wednesday, January 3rd when the final 17 games of their 29-game regular season start with a 6 PM home contest against Independence Community College. The game will be between two teams right next to each other in the KJCCC standings, with Independence currently sitting at 8-4 overall and 2-4 in the KJCCC while heading into the extended holiday break following a 75-69 home win over Pratt on December 9th. Of the eight wins for the Pirates, five came in the first five games of the season as ICC went on a four-game skid to begin conference play before earning wins in each of their last three contests.