by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Challenged to playing aggressive defense, Kansas City Kansas Community College’s Lady Blue Devils responded with fervor in a 91-51 win over Brown Mackie in Salina Wednesday night.
Ranked No. 8 in the latest NJCAA Division II poll, the win evened the Blue Devils Jayhawk Conference record at 2-2 and boosted their overall record to 19-2 heading into a stretch of three straight Jayhawk games at home starting Saturday against Fort Scott at 2 p.m. KCKCC will close out its non-conference season against William Penn’s JV in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Sunday at 4 p.m. before returning home to play Hesston Wednesday and Highland a week from Saturday.
Led by sophomore Erin Anderson, the Blue Devils exploded to a 26-13 first quarter lead on the way to a 47-30 halftime advantage. Anderson had 17 of her game high 23 points in the first half including 3 of 4 shots from 3-point range. Cheyenne North added her ninth double double of the season with 19 points and 10 rebounds while Brooklyn Wagler added 13 points and Kylia Jarrett 8.
“I was very pleased with our effort and results in focusing on being aggressive on the defensive end,” said coach Joe McKinstry. “We held Brown Mackie to just four field goals in the second half with 17 of their 51 points coming from the free throw line so now we need to focus on playing aggressively but without fouling. I also told the team I wanted to focus on rebounding and take advantage on the glass and we did just that (42-27 in rebounding).”
Led by Aricca Daye’s career high nine assists, the Blue Devils had 27 assists on 33 field goals.
“That’s always a good thing and reflects in our shooting percentages compared to some of our recent games,” McKinstry said. Hitting 15 of 30 second half shots, the Blue Devils shot 47.1 percent for the game while limiting Brown Mackie to just 15 of 53 field goal attempts for 28.3 percent.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.