by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s women will have a first round bye and hold an NJCAA Region VI semifinal playoff game. That was confirmed by the Blue Devils’ 92-58 win at Fort Scott Wednesday.
The win sets up a probable rematch for the No. 5 ranked Blue Devils against No. 7 ranked and defending Region VI champion Labette next Wednesday night. The two teams collided last Saturday with KCKCC handing the Cardinals their first loss in 22 games 77-70.
The Region VI playoffs begin Monday with Labette (3-2) as host to Hesston (1-9) and Fort Scott (3-5) entertaining Highland (2-6).
The Labette- Hesston winner will play at KCKCC and No. 1 ranked Johnson County (8-0) will play the Fort Scott-Highland winner in Wednesday’s semifinals. The championship game will be played the following Saturday at Friends University in Wichita.
Six Blue Devils scored eight or more points as they won their fifth game in a row, Ranked No. 5 nationally, the win improved the KCKCC record to 18-2.
“Very happy with tonight’s outcome,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstrysaid. “Although we beat them handily the first time we played, I know playing on their court wouldn’t be easy. Our team gave a solid effort all night.”
Aliyah Myers had 19 points and three assists and Tiaira Earnest 18 points, seven rebounds and four assists to lead the way. Ikla Elam added 14 points and DQ Guillory 12 and both had five rebounds while DJ Guillory chipped in with nine points and Trinity McDow masking her first start eight and three assists.
“Tiaria’s stat line is pretty impressive across the board and Aliyah was solid for us as she’s been most of the year,” McKinstry said. “Aliyah finishes the regular season with the third most assists in the country (101) and first in the country in steals (69). She’s been tremendous all season for us.”
The game marked the debut of 6-1 freshman forward Jewell Hart of Truman High School.
“It’s been over a year since she last played competitively in dealing with a knee and a shoulder injury,” McKinstry said. “She has some rust to shake off but it was great to see her on the floor.
“Now we’ve got six days to get ourselves prepared and I’m excited for this group to have the opportunity to host a semifinal game in our home gym.”
In other final season games, unbeaten JCCC got its 18th straight win 64-58 at Labette while Hesston posted its first win, defeating Highland 58-44 at Highland.