Assist and turnover records set; multiple Blue Devils have career bests
Kansas City Kansas Community College went on the third biggest scoring spree in Blue Devils women’s basketball history Saturday, thanks to the most assists ever in racing to a 122-46 win over Fort Scott.
The win boosted the No. 5 ranked Blue Devils’ record to 13-1 and set up an opportunity to climb into a tie for the Jayhawk Conference lead when they play host to No. 3 Johnson County (13-0) Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. A scheduled men’s game with JCCC has been postponed because of the COVID pandemic.
Johnson County leads the Jayhawk with a 4-0 record followed by KCKCC, 3-1; Highland, 2-2; Fort Scott, 1-3; and Hesston, 0-4. Labette, the defending champion and No. 2 ranked team in NJCAA Division II, has yet to play a conference game. The Cardinals (9-0) are scheduled for their first conference game Wednesday at Hesston.
The Blue Devils had 39 assists on 51 field goals, bettering the old record of 36 set against Garden City way back in 1996 while the 122 points are the most since 124 posted against Hesston in 2019. The all-time record is 128 points scored against Brown Mackie in 2015.
A third record will go into the record book – 41 turnovers forced by the aggressive Blue Devil defense. There are no past records with 40 or more turnovers in a single game.
Fort Scott led by as many as three points early in a first quarter that had one tie and seven lead changes but the under-manned Greyhounds couldn’t stay close against the fast-breaking Blue Devils, who consistently won the race down floor for a flurry of layups. Leading 23-15 after one quarter, KCKCC outscored the Greyhounds 36-6 in the second period for a 59-21 halftime bulge.
Offensively, it was a game of career highs for multiple Blue Devils. Sophomore Tiaira Earnest and freshmen Faith Putz and Lacy Whitcomb all had career highs in scoring; sophomore Mercer Roberts in rebounds and assists; Aysia Arrowood in assists; and De’Jaria Guillory and Trinity McDow in steals.
“A lot of great performances individually but honestly I think that’s a reflection of how well we played as a team,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “It’s hard for me to imagine a scenario where we played better on both ends of the floor than we did today. Balanced scoring, tremendous assist numbers across the board and obviously our defense was great in forcing 41 turnovers.”
A freshman from Valley Center, Arrowood came off the bench to lead the assault on the assist record book with eight. Aliyah Myers and Mercer added seven each, Whitcomb six and De’Jaria Guillory four.
Earnest scored as many points in the first half (21) as Fort Scott posted as a team. Earnest had four 3-pointers in her 30-point night while Putz had two in scoring 23 on 10-of-16 shooting. Whitcomb also had four threes and was 6-for-11 in scoring 16 points. Aliyah Myers had 15 points, Roberts 10, Guillory 9, Hannah Valentine 7 and Aysia Arrowood and Trinity McDow 6 each as everyone scored.
Roberts had 11 rebounds and Valentine six although KCKCC lost the battle of the boards 44-38. Guillory and Earnest each had seven steals, McDow five and Myers four as the Blue Devils converted the 31 steals into 51 points.
The Blue Devils were 15-of-25 for 60 percent in the 36-point second quarter and 15-of-22 (.682) in posting 36 points in the fourth quarter to finish with 56 percent for the game. Fort Scott was limited to 17-of-57 shots for 29.8 percent.