by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
There’s a certain amount of pride that comes with playing in the nation’s toughest NJCAA Division II women’s basketball conference – but there can also be a heavy price to pay.
Facing the second of three nationally ranked teams in a row, Kansas City Kansas Community College dropped a 76-69 decision to No. 11 Labette (19-4) Wednesday. The loss came on the heels of a loss to No. 3 ranked Highland last Saturday with a home date this Saturday with No. 3 Johnson County at 2 p.m.
The Lady Blue Devils (18-7) stayed close for a half, trailing 36-33 at the break; fell 15 points back in the third quarter; and then put on a comeback that got them to within four points with less than a minute to play.
Two 3-point goals by Gena Ojeda in the final 1½ minutes, the second with 36 seconds left, closed the KCKCC deficit to 73-69 but two turnovers ended the Blue Devils’ final bid.
A Labette zone defense that effectively took away much of KCKCC’s inside game by converging at least two and sometimes three defenders on the Blue Devil forwards was decisive.
As a result nearly half of the Blue Devils’ offense came from the perimeter – 33 points on 11 of-33 3-pointers. The defense also enabled Labette to win the rebounding battle (42-33) including 14 off the offensive boards.
Ashley Daniels led KCKCC with 14 points with Ojeda and Kisi Young adding 12 points each, Miya Ford 9 and Lillie Moore 8. Moore led the rebounding with eight with Ford adding six while Caitlin Stewart led in assists with six.
Labette, thanks to 10-of-15 third quarter shots, shot 45.6 percent from the field and had 19 turnovers. KCKCC also had 19 turnovers and was 25-of-61 for 41 percent. Upe Atosu led Labette with 30 points including 4-of-9 3-pointers and 8-of-12 free throws.
“We had a very good team come into our gym and outwork us so I’m a little frustrated and discouraged,” said a usually upbeat KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry. “They played harder than we did, they out-rebounded us and out-hustled us and they literally took the ball right out of our hands on numerous occasions. There are nights when the ball just doesn’t bounce right and you come up short but that’s not what happened tonight. There are higher expectations here at KCKCC and we have to hold ourselves to a higher standard.”
In other games Wednesday, Highland (25-0) stayed atop the conference race with an 85-43 win over Fort Scott while Johnson County (20-5) kept its hold on second place with a 97-34 thrashing of Hesston.