Month: November 2017

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Over the hurdle of long-time rival Penn Valley 81-69 in the Keith Lindsey Classic Saturday, Kansas City Kansas Community College’s unbeaten women’s basketball team takes to the road for its toughest test of the season to date at North Arkansas Wednesday.

Tipoff in Bentonville will come at 5 p.m. with a KCKCC-North Ark men’s game to follow at 7 p.m. before both Blue Devil teams return home Friday, the women as hosts to Park University’s junior varsity at 5 p.m. and the KCKCC men as hosts of Saint Mary junior varsity at 7 p.m.

KCKCC (6-0) had to overcome a season high 29 turnovers against an aggressive pressing defense thrown at them by Penn Valley.

They did it with rebound domination (48-30) and accurate shooting (49.2 percent). With Kisi Young and Caitlyn Stewart leading the way, the Lady Blue Devils had little difficulty in breaking the press but all too often failed to capitalize on their fast-break opportunities.

KCKCC could only convert 23 Penn Valley turnovers into 20 points; the Lady Scouts scored 19 points off the 29 Blue Devils miscues.

“We haven’t spent a lot of time on our press break in practice so for the most part I was pretty happy with how we handled Penn Valley’s press,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Yes, turnovers are a concern but when you’re playing that fast for an entire game, you’re going to turn the ball over more times than usual.”

The Blue Devils trailed by as many as six points midway through the first quarter but once they got the lead they were never headed. Leading 38-32 at halftime, they led by as many as 17 points in the third quarter. Closest the Lady Scouts got was 74-67 with 3:54 left but a layup by Nija Collier on a nifty pass from Young, a rebound goal by Alix Wilson and a put-back by Collier re-opened the lead to 81-69.

Collier posted her second double-double of the Lindsey Classic, scoring 19 points and grabbing a game-high 15 rebounds while Young had a game-high 20 points on 10-of-14 shooting along with seven rebounds and three assists.

Piper guard Miya Ford came off the bench with her finest performance, scoring 13 points including a pair of 3-pointers while Stewart was a huge thorn in the Lady Scouts’ side with eight assists, six rebounds, five steals and aggressive defensive play.

“From my view point, that was an ugly game but even in the ugly ones, it feels good to get a win,” McKinstry said. “This is a very young and inexperienced team and we’ve had six games in 11 days which means we haven’t had a lot of practice time. That’s my fault because I make the schedule. But I’m very proud of how hard they compete and their intensity.”

Pirates held without field goal 15 minutes, missing 23 straight field goal attempts

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Pitching the longest shutout in Kansas City Kansas Community College history, the Blue Devils rode a huge first half to a 74-67 win over North Central Missouri in the final game of the Keith Lindsey Classic Saturday night.

The win lifted the Blue Devils to 3-2 heading into home games Friday against Saint Mary junior varsity at 7 p.m. and a big 7:30 p.m. test Tuesday against Iowa Western. Friday’s game will follow a KCKCC’s women’s game against Park University junior varsity at 5 p.m.

KCKCC’s clash with North Central was played in two halves – the Blue Devils winning the first half 41-13, the Pirates taking the second half 54-33.

What was amazing is the way the Blue Devils built that big first half lead. It was unlike no other. With 15:50 left in the first half, the Pirates cut the KCKCC lead to 9-7. By the time North Central could score another field goal, the Blue Devils led 41-9 with just 46 seconds left.

During that span of 15 minutes and four seconds, North Central missed 23 consecutive field goal attempts and eight of 10 free throws in being outscored 32-2. Just 4-of-29 for the half for 13.8 percent, three of the four field goals came on 3-pointers.

“The first half we were focused, driven and under control to be successful in everything we executed,” KCKCC coach Kelley Newton saod. “The second half we were not focused and gave up 54 points. We have to learn how to be focused and driven on every play. When we figure that out, we will be dangerous. But hats off to North Central for playing a great game in the second half.”

The Pirates shot at a torrid 55.6 percent the second half including 5-of-9 3-pointers but never got closer than six points in the closing points thanks in part to invaluable production off the bench from forward DuVonte Beard. Scoreless the first half, Beard had 11 second half points on 4-of-6 shooting.

Sterling Hicks led the first half assault with 16 of his 18 points while Dion Union led all scorers with 19 points, 11 the first half. Dixon also had a career high eight assists while Solomon Thomas contributed five assists and nine points. Tyson Beringer just missed a double-double with a game-high 10 rebounds and nine points, seven of which came in the second half.

KCKCC won the rebounding battle 38-31 with Josiah Laws adding eight to Beringer’s 10. The Blue Devils also shot well, 26-of-50 for 52 percent but were guilty of 17 turnovers to just seven for North Central.

Ironically, all four men’s teams in the Classic won. On Friday, North Central Missouri defeated Highland 79-71 while KCKCC fell to Link Year Prep 84-71. On Saturday Highland humbled Link Year Prep 104-64 while KCKCC was beating North Central 74-67.