by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College women’s basketball coach Joe McKinstry has a problem – how to put the best combo on the floor at the same time.
In an 87-52 win over Saint Mary junior varsity Monday night, McKinstry got 39 points from his starters and 48 from his young but deep bench.
“It’s not a bad problem to have,” McKinstry said.
Unbeaten in three games, the Lady Blue Devils have three more games this week. At Ottawa University JV Wednesday night, the Blue Devils are hosts to the annual Keith Lindsey Classic this weekend, and they will be hosts of William Penn’s junior varsity Friday at 6 p.m. and then long-time archrival Penn Valley Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Blue Devils got big performances from 6-1 Lillie Moore of Magnolia, Ark., and 6-0 Nija Collier of Detroit in the win over Saint Mary.
Moore was 8-of-9 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds while Collier had a double double with 10 points and a game high 14 rebounds
“Lillie had a better night tonight finishing around the basket,” McKinstry said. “She’s capable of these stats every game if she continues to work hard without the ball. And Nina Collier’s stats are a direct reflection of her effort. When we get her to understand the game and get her into the flow of things, she’s going to be hard to handle.”
Caroline Hoppock and Gena Ojeda added nine points each, Allly Lollis eight, Miya Ford seven and Kisi Young six and seven rebounds. Tyrionne Martin directed the offense with seven assists and eight points.
Shooting 61.9 percent the first quarter, KCKCC built a 28-5 lead but things went downhill the rest of the way. Leading 49-15 at the half, KCKCC had only a 38-37 scoring edge in the second half as the Blue Devils were just 8-of-28 (28.6 percent) from 3-point and 43.6 percent overall.
“I think we showed our youth and inexperience tonight,” McKinstry said. “Of course I’m happy we won but we have to do a better job of executing on both ends of the floor regardless of what the scoreboard says. I felt like our defense and defensive rebounding effort really fell off after halftime.”
KCKCC had a 58-42 advantage on the boards but it was only 30-27 in the second half.