Category: KCKCC

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s Lady Blue Devils wasted no time in putting the finishing touches on wrapping up a home playoff berth Saturday.

Knocking down 9 of their first 10 shots, the Blue Devils bolted to a 21-3 lead on the way to a 98-53 win over Fort Scott. The win improved their overall record to 23-5 and evened their Jayhawk Conference record at 4-4 with two games to go.

KCKCC closes out its home season against Highland Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. and the regular season Saturday at Johnson County (2 p.m.) before playing host to a first-round Region VI playoff game against either Fort Scott or Hesston on Tuesday, Feb. 25.

Everyone contributed in the win over Fort Scott. All 11 Blue Devils had assists, all 11 had rebounds. Ten scored and eight had steals.

“We really shared the ball well, 25 assists on 36 field goals and only 11 turnovers,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “I thought we did a great job of executing. We called a lot of plays and everyone was in the right place.”

All five starters were in double figures led by Kamryn Estell and Brodi Byrd. Estell scored 20 points on sizzling 8-of-9 shooting and had five rebounds while Byrd had a big double-double line of 13 points and a game-high 11 rebounds along with five assists and three steals.

Playing in her next to last home game, Byrd knocked down her 123rd 3-point goal, just five short of the KCKCC career record.

The Blue Devils’ other two sophomores were also in double figures. Caroline Hoppock had 11 points and six rebounds and Destiny Zamudio 10 points and five assists.

Aliyah Myers also had 11 points, Jada Mayberry nine, Mercer Roberts eight, Tiaira Earnest and Adoreya Williams six each and Diamond Williams four.

Myers and Hoppock ignited KCKCC’s 21-3 start with back-to-back 3-pointers. Estell contributed two field goals, Byrd a trey and Zamudio, Roberts and Hoppock a layup each in the torrid start that took just over 4½ minutes.

“I really liked our energy starting the game,” McKinstry said. “It was something we didn’t do Wednesday so I was really pleased with that.”

Playing at Hesston last Wednesday, the Blue Devils scored just 16 points the first quarter, 89 the last three periods.

KCKCC led 30-10 after one quarter and 51-21 at halftime. The Blue Devils made 18 of 33 shots for 54.4 percent the first half, then stepped it up in a 30-point third quarter with 11-of-17 for 64.7 percent.

The Blue Devils also converted 21 Fort Scott turnovers into 29 points and dominated the rebounding 48-31. Fort Scott’s Destiny Ellis led all scorers with 29 points including 20 of the Greyhounds’ 21 first half points.

Elsewhere, Labette all but wrapped up the Jayhawk Conference championship with a 69-51 win over Johnson County in Parsons.

With two games to go against Fort Scott and Hesston, Labette (7-1) has the lead over Highland (6-2), JCCC (5-3) and KCKCC (4-4). Highland pummeled Hesston 120-45 in Saturday’s other game.

KCKCC can win outright championship with win over Highland Wednesday

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

In the 50 years of Jayhawk Conference men’s basketball, Kansas City Kansas Community College had never won, never tied for a conference championship. That streak is over. The drought has ended.

A 74-69 win over Fort Scott in a furiously fought battle that went right down to the wire Saturday clinched no worse than a tie for the 2020 championship with two games to go starting with a home contest Wednesday with Highland at 7:30 p.m.

“I don’t like to share; we want to cut the nets down,” said first-year KCKCC head coach Brandon Burgette. “But every game gets tougher.”

The win was the Blue Devils’ eighth in a row in improving to 15-12.

While there’s been no Jayhawk championship, KCKCC is not without conference titles. From 1940-1969, Blue Devil teams dominated the Interstate Conference, winning 12 championships.

Late heroics by Jalen Davis and Deron McDaniel in the final three minutes rallied the Blue Devils past Fort Scott.

In a span of 58 seconds, McDaniel pulled KCKCC even 64-64 with his third 3-pointer of the game and Davis followed with two tie-breaking free throws and a 3-pointer for a 69-64 lead with 1:39 remaining and the Blue Devils protected the lead from the free throw line – two each by McDaniel and Jermaine Yarbough after a game-clinching rebound.

“Deron made some clutch shots, Jalen hit big throws, Jermaine had key rebounds and Robert Rhodes had four blocked shots and was great on the boards,” Burgette said. “Robert has been our savior all year, protecting the rim and rebounding the basketball.”

In addition to four blocks, Rhodes hauled down 16 rebounds and scored six points before fouling out with 1:09 left.

Davis and McDaniel shared offensive honors with 18 points each while Yarbough and Calvin Slaughter had 10 apiece and Ezekiel Lopes nine.

Yarbough also had seven rebounds and Slaughter five although the Greyhounds had a 41-39 edge on the boards. In addition, the Blue Devils had 17 assists on 24 field goals with DeAngelo Bell and McDaniel handing out five each and Slaughter four.

KCKCC trailed by as many as eight points and led by as many as eight in the first half in a roller coaster game that would have six lead changes and seven ties.

Trailing 34-27 at halftime, the Greyhounds surged to a 49-43 lead in the first six minutes of the second half. McDaniel wiped out most of that lead with a trey and a layup to set up a furious race to the finish.

Twice Fort Scott led by four points but two free throws by Yarbough and a McDaniel field goal kept KCKCC close and the Blue Devils went ahead briefly 61-59 on a Rhodes basket and two more Yarbough free throws.

However, a Craig Jordan 3-pointer and two free throws put the Greyhounds in front 64-61 and set up the Blue Devils’13-5 finish in the final 2:37.

“We did a great job of keeping our composure when they went on a run and got key stops when it mattered,” Burgette said. “We struggled defensively all night and then did a good job of guarding them in the last two minutes.”

Statistically, the two teams were as close as the outcome. KCKCC shot .414, Fort Scott .406 from the field; KCKCC was 9 of 29 from 3-point, the Greyhounds 8 of 29. The Blue Devils had a slight edge in turnovers, 11 against Fort Scott’s 14.

In other action Saturday, Johnson County (5-3) stayed two games back of KCKCC with a 59-51 win at Labette while Highland (4-4) moved into a tie for third place with Fort Scott with a 73-63 win over Hesston. Fort Scott will be at Labette and Hesston at JCCC in other action Wednesday.

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC

Kansas City Kansas Community College got the 2020 baseball season off to a winning start Friday, combining stingy pitching with timely hitting for a 13-1 win over Richland Community College in Dallas, Texas.

The two teams play a doubleheader Saturday and the Blue Devils play Brookhaven in a single game Sunday in Farmers Branch before opening their home season with twin bills with Northeast Nebraska next Saturday and Sunday.

Sophomore lefthander Osvaldo Mendez picked up where he left off last season when he was the Blue Devils’ biggest winner on the mound, pitching no-hit ball for 5 1/3 innings. He allowed one run in six innings, striking out six and walking none.

“A dominant performance,” KCKCC head coach Matt Goldbeck said. “He was pounding the strike zone.”

Hunter Cashero, Steven Santiago and Mathis Maulden finished up, each working one scoreless inning as they combined to allow one hit, strike out one and walk two.

Eduardo Acosta belted a 3-run home run and drove in four runs; Seth Kenagy singled twice and scored three times; and Griffin Everitt drove in a pair of runs for the Blue Devils, who were the beneficiary of 12 walks and three hit batsmen.

KCKCC took a 1-0 lead in the first on a walk, an Everitt single and Jose Sosa’s ground ball and added four runs in the second, all with two out. Kenagy singled in the first run and after a walk, Acosta launched his 3-run homer.

The Blue Devils added six runs on just one hit in the fifth, a 2-out, 2-run single by Everitt after six walks, hit batsman and two Richland errors. Raymond Paniagua singled and scored on Acosta’s sacrifice fly as the Blue Devils scored twice in the seventh.

“A good start,” Goldbeck said. “Great job by Mendez and our offense came up with some big hits.”