Millie Shade, Kayla Horn and Kyliea Jarrett have career bests
by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College women’s basketball teams have turned in several remarkable performances in the last three or four years so it probably shouldn’t come as a surprise that another record achievement be entered Wednesday night.
Facing Hesston in a Region VI contest, the Lady Blue Devils took a 21-9 first quarter lead, all on three-point field goals – four by Millie Shade, two by Brie Tauai and one by Alix Wilson – and rode the early assault to a 90-58 win.
The win pushed KCKCC’s lead over Fort Scott (2-5) to two games in the race for fourth place and a first round home playoff berth. The Blue Devils, who are 4-3 in regional play and 16-8 overall, trail Johnson County and Labette, both 6-1, and Highland, which fell to 5-2 with a 63-54 loss at JCCC Wednesday.
The Blue Devils now have until next Wednesday to resume region play but have a rugged test against Division I Iowa Western in Council Bluffs Sunday at 4 p.m. At Brown Mackie next Wednesday, KCKCC’s next-to-last home game comes Saturday, Feb. 18, against No. 8 ranked Highland.
Not only did the Blue Devils score from distance in the first quarter, they got three other career bests in the win over Hesston. Shade finished with six 3-pointers and 10-of-16 shooting in a career best 27-point effort; sophomore guard Kayla Horn had an all-time best 11 assists along with 13 points for a double-double; and former Bonner Springs’ standout Kyliea Jarrett had a career best and game high 14 rebounds including eight off the offensive boards along with six points.
And three others were not far off from double-doubles. Tauai had 18 points and eight rebounds; Brooklyn Wagler 12 rebounds and nine points; and Aeriel Holiday, 11 points including three treys and seven rebounds in a game in which KCKCC hauled down a whopping 59 rebounds to 32 for the Larks. Shade and Horn also had six rebounds to add to their other big nights.
“A great job by our team tonight,” said KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry. “It was fun to put some big numbers up on the stat sheet. I challenged the girls at halftime (36-27) not to get complacent and to continue to get stops on the defensive end and they responded very well.”
McKinstry was particularly pleased by the career best performances.
“I was very happy for Kyliea Jarrett and our rebounding; her individual rebounding effort was amazing,” McKinstry said. “And when Millie Shade gets open looks, she’s capable of doing what she did tonight. She can really score the ball.
“Kayla Horn, I thought had the best floor game of the season. She was aggressive but also made great decisions on when to score and when to look for her teammates. And the fact she had just one turnover in 30 minutes of play is fantastic.”