by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
If a basketball team is only as strong as its bench, then Kansas City Kansas Community College is most deserving of its national ranking.
The No. 9 ranked Blue Devils took on their toughest test of the early season Friday and passed with an 81-65 win over St. Louis Community College in a game that was much more contested than the final score would indicate.
St. Louis was as close as three points late in the third quarter before the Blue Devil depth asserted itself, outscoring the Lady Archers 26-17 in the final quarter.
“We were tested, that’s for sure,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “St. Louis played exceptionally hard and always wins a lot of game so to be in the conversation with the top teams you need wins like this.”
KCKCC (4-0) is right back in action Saturday, facing North Central Missouri at 4 p.m. in the final day of the Keith Lindsey Classic. The KCKCC men will also play North Central at 6 p.m.
With four players including last year’s three top scorers and rebounders in early foul trouble, a quartet of four reserves led by Nija Collier stepped in and combined for 36 points.
Nearly perfect at the foul line with 16 of 18 free throws, Collier led the way with 25 points and 13 rebounds in 24 minutes while Kisi Young also had a double-double with 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Brodi Byrd added 12 points including three of her four 3-pointers in the decisive fourth quarter; Lillie Moore scored 11 points in just nine minutes; and Lexy Watts had eight points, a game high six assists and five rebounds.
The Blue Devils played the entire second quarter without Moore and Collier and the Archers took advantage of it, outrebounding KCKCC 14-9 as they closed a 24-14 first quarter deficit to 34-28 at the half.
And it might have been closer were it not for sophomores Watts and Young. Watts had two field goals and two free throws in the period and set up another basket with of one of two back-to-back midcourt steals while Young hauled down seven of her eight first half rebounds in the period.
After playing just four minutes the first half, Moore scored the first five points of the third quarter only to pick up foul No. 3 three minutes into the period and Collier took it from there, scoring 10 points to keep KCKCC in front 55-48 and the Blue Devils pulled away with 72.7 percent shooting (8-of-11) the final quarter.
For the game, the Blue Devils shot 44.2 percent but only 30.4 percent (7-of-23) from 3-point. The Archers, meanwhile, managed just 30.4 percent from the field and were finally outrebounded 46-38.
The Blue Devils were assessed 26 fouls, St. Louis 24. “Quite honestly, we earned the foul trouble,” McKinstry said. “We have to be smarter in what we do. This is only the fourth game but we had nine preseason scrimmages with referees so we should know what’s allowed defensively. We also had 19 turnovers, too many of which were self-inflicted.
“But we also held them to 2-of-12 3-point shots which was real important given it was a tight game for a long period of time and we were down seven in rebounding at the half (28-21) and outrebounded them 25-10 in the second half which was huge. Nija Collier getting to the free throw 18 times and making 16 was phenomenal and Lillie Moore played well with 11 points in just nine minutes.”