by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College played up to its newest national ranking in the second half Thursday, scoring 61 points on the way to a 102-52 win over Southeast Nebraska Community College.
Elevated to No. 4 in the latest NJCAA Division II national poll, the highest ever during regular season play, the Lady Blue Devils closed out non-conference play with an 18-2 record.
The Jayhawk Conference season starts Wednesday when Labette comes to KCKCC for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff while No. 1 ranked Johnson County (16-0) plays host to No. 3 Highland (15-1) and Fort Scott goes to Hesston.
Despite one of their worst shooting starts (.333), the Blue Devils led Southeast 21-7 after one quarter and 41-21 at halftime.
“Although we were up 20, I thought we missed way too many shots around the basket and were just going through the motions, not sharp or crisp,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Southeast played zone last time and against everyone else so when they PLAYED man-to-man defense, it through us off a bit. We should have been excited about running our offense with precision but we did not do that.”
Nija Collier and Lillie Moore led the 61-point second half. Collier had 13 of her game high 20 points and Moore nine of her 15 in the final two periods. Collier also had 14 rebounds for a double-double as did Kisi Young, who had 10 points and 12 rebounds while Moore wasn’t far away with eight rebounds.
Freshman Lenaejha Evans led the way early, knocking down three 3-pointers and scoring 11 of her 17 points in the first half. Brodi Bryd and Camryn Swanson also had three 3-pointers, Byrd scoring 13 points and Swanson nine. Lexi Watts led in assists with six with Young and Collier adding four each and Caitlyn Stewart three.
“We definitely played better the second half,” McKinstry said. “I liked our pace a lot better, running, rebounding, sharing the ball. We had 23 assists and rank third or fourth in the county which is important to me. We have a lot of possessions and a lot of unscripted action which leads to better opportunities and we’ve done a great job of finding teammates.”
