by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s reign as NJCAA Division II national basketball champion officially came to an end Monday night – ended by the team whose reign as national champion was ended by the Lady Blue Devils just a year ago.
Ranked No. 3 nationally, Johnson County lived up to that ranking with an 81-38 thumping of the Blue Devils in the Region VI semifinals at JCCC. The win advances the Lady Cavaliers (29-2) into the Region VI championship game against No. 8 Highland Wednesday at Hartman Arena in Park City.
For a quarter Monday, the Lady Blue Devils held their own. KCKCC’s Brie Tauai scored the first field goal of the second quarter, cutting the Cavaliers lead to 17-5. But the Blue Devils didn’t get another point until the final minute of the half when Tauai drained a 3-pointer. Missing 15 shots between field goals, the Blue Devils trailed 37-20 at halftime.
“I thought we got fatigued,” said KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry. “We came out with pretty good energy and tried to put pressure on them. We knew there might be times when we’ve have trouble scoring so we wanted to be aggressive. Last week against Johnson, there were a lot of fouls and we could get short breaks. But tonight we only shot one free throw the first half.”
Indeed, the Cavaliers pounded the Blue Devils physically in every possible way. While four Blue Devils were playing from 17 to 20 minutes the first half, JCCC coach Ben Conrad was able to rotate in 11 players in the opening half. The Cavaliers also took advantage of superior size, relentlessly crashing the boards to the tune of 45-17 domination. Fifteen of the rebounds came offensively and produced 19 second-chance points. Finally, the Cavaliers blocked nine KCKCC shots including five by 6-3 Jaylynn Evans Patterson, most of which came against 5-8 Blue Devil forward Brooklyn Wagler.
The fatigue factor particularly reared its ugly head when it came to scoring. The Blue Devils had six field goals the first quarter (6-of-14) but managed only six more the final three periods when they were 6-for-43 for 13.9 percent. JCCC, meanwhile, was 22-of-40 for 55 percent the first three quarters and finished at 51.9 percent.
Wagler had 12 points and Tauai 10 to lead the Blue Devils but only one other Blue Devil had more than one field goal (Kayla Horn). In addition to Wagler and Tauai, who played major roles in last year’s national championship season, guards Horn, Millie Shade and Whitney Hazlett and forwards Kyliea Jarrett and Aeriel Holiday played their final games for KCKCC, which finished 18-13.
Kierra Isiah had 19 points, Arielle Jackson 18 and Austin Richardson 15 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Cavaliers, who will be meeting Highland for the third time this season. JCCC won the first two 63-47 and 63-54. The winner will advance to the national tournament where the Jayhawk Conference has shined the last three years. In 2014, Highland finished second before JCCC took the 2015 title and KCKCC the 2016 national title.