by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s women sabotaged one of their best halves of the season Sunday with a disastrous third quarter and then staged a near miraculous comeback.
Leading 39-29 at halftime at Iowa Western, the Lady Blue Devils were outscored 20-2 in the opening five minutes of the third quarter and trailed by as many as 13 points before clawing back to within two points in an 87-79 loss.
The loss left the Blue Devils 16-9 as they return to Region VI action at Brown Mackie Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. and then return for their next-to-last home game of the season against No. 8 ranked Highland Saturday at 2 p.m.
KCKCC built its 39-29 halftime lead on 48.3 percent shooting (14-of-29) only to have the Reivers score the first 10 points of the third quarter to ignite the 20-2 run that extended the lead to 49-42 with 5:27 left in the period.
Down by as many as 13 points in the fourth quarter, the Blue Devils surged back, cutting a 79-70 deficit to 79-77 with 50 seconds left and it took a pair of 3-pointers, one at the final buzzer, and two free throws to hold off the Blue Devils, who were still only down 82-79 with 20 seconds remaining.
“We simply didn’t come out of the locker room at halftime with enough energy,” said KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry, who has a squad of just eight players. “But even late in the third quarter we were able to fight back and get it to a one possession game. Unfortunately, they got the lead back up to 13 points but we were still able to get within two points with a minute left but just couldn’t come up with the stop we needed.”
Five Blue Devils scored in double figures. Millie Shade and Brooklyn Wagler led with 19 and 18, respectively, while Aeriel Holiday added 15, Kayla Horn 13 and Whitney Hazlett a career high 10. Wagler led the rebounding with eight as KCKCC had a 30-26 edge on the boards but the Blue Devils were guilty of 24 turnovers to 18 for Iowa Western. Shade and Horn led in assists with five.
“I was very pleased with our effort, our toughness and our ability to battle,” McKinstry said. “From the start we looked great and did a fantastic job of executing and knocking down shots. We did a lot of great things and that’s a tough place to win. We’ve just got to be able to maintain our effort for 40 minutes in moving forward.”