Easily over their final pre-Jayhawk Conference hurdle with an 81-45 rout of the Kansas Nuggets Thursday, Kansas City Kansas Community College’s No. 6 ranked Lady Blue Devils head into arguably the toughest week of any team in the nation.
At No. 7 Highland Wednesday, the Blue Devils come back home Saturday afternoon to face unbeaten Johnson County, the No. 1 ranked team in the NJCAA Division poll and reigning national champion.
“It’s going to be a challenging week, a challenge I hope we welcome,” said KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry. “At the same time, it’s going to be a great way to prepare ourselves for the Region VI tournament.”
With reserves playing nearly as much time as the starters, the unbeaten Blue Devils made it 16-0 in the win over the Kansas Nuggets, a team made up of former college players. Every Blue Devil saw action in the first quarter as KCKCC surged to a 29-11 lead on the way to a 50-21 halftime bulge.
Erin Anderson led four Blue Devils in double figures with 18 points along with six rebounds, five assists and four steals. Sierra Roberts added 16 points including four three-pointers while Brooklyn Wagler and Valencia Scott chipped in with 12 points apiece.
Scoring leader Cheyenne North led all rebounders with 16, handed out six assists and blocked four shots but only attempted seven shots from the field, netting three. Arrica Daye also had six assists and eight points while Brie Tauai and Wagler joined Anderson with six rebounds each.
“I thought our energy and effort were good, especially after how hard we played the night before,” McKinstry said. “It was a good game to help us to continue to get in shape after the holiday break.”
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.