Category: KCKCC

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

While the end of Kansas City Kansas Community College’s women’s basketball season didn’t come until the national tournament, the fate of Blue Devils may have been decided four weeks earlier.

On the final play of the first half of KCKCC’s game against Fort Scott March 13, guard Hannah Valentine crashed to the floor with a season-ending leg injury. The Blue Devils’ leading scorer and rebounder,

Valentine’s loss was further compounded in the national tournament by an injury that sidelined Mercer Roberts, the season long starter in the middle.

Down two starters, KCKCC was upset by 14th seeded Union County (N.J.) 62-59 in overtime in the first round of the national tournament and then eliminated two games later.

Would Valentine and Mercer have made a difference?

”I believe so but I can’t really say,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Hannah was our best player the first two weeks. She gave us some consistency and versatility that we really missed when she was gone. And Mercer Roberts started all year long and we only lost two of 22 games. Without her, we lost two of three.”

The Blue Devils finished with a 21-4 record. Two of the losses came in the national tournament; the other two to No. 1 Johnson County, which finished second in the national tournament and a team the Blue Devils defeated 67-59 to win the Plains Regional championship.

“Given the amount of new faces and the level of inexperience, I was very pleased with what this group accomplished,” McKinstry said. “Obviously we wished we had a better final week but you can’t take away from everything we did before that. We came into the regional playing really well, beating Labette on Sophomore Day and again in the regional and then knocking off Johnson County in the championship game. It was the best stretch of basketball we had all season but then we just played awful in the national (27 turnovers and 14 missed free throws).”

With athletes getting an extra year of eligibility, the Blue Devils will have an abundance of experience next season. Only two players will be moving on, Valentine and guard Aliyah Myers, a first team All-Jayhawk and All-Region selection. Named the Jayhawk’s Defensive Player of the Year, Myers led the Blue Devils in steals (80) and assists (120) while second in scoring (13.5) and third in rebounding (5.5). Valentine averaged 13.6 points and 6.5 rebounds, playing in just 14 games.

That leaves 10 players scheduled to return, headed by 5-6 Tiaria Earnest, who was named to the All-Jayhawk and All-Region VI first teams. Earnest averaged 12.5 points but 14.8 in playoff games. She was also second in rebounding (5.6). Also back are guards Faith Putz, who averaged 8.3 points, D,Q, Guillory (8.1), D,J, Guillory (7.2), Lacy Whitcomb (5.4) and Aysia Arrowood (3.3),

Front court returnees include 6-0 Ikia Elam, who averaged 7.7 points and 4.6 rebounds; 5-11 Roberts, 5.8 and 4.3; and 6-0 Trinity McDow (3.6 and 3.0) along with 6-1 Jewel Hart, who joined the team just in time to score in double figures in two playoff games. She averaged 7.6 points and 3.9 points after missing three-fourths of the season with an injury.

The returning experience will be significant.

“Only two times can I compare that much experience,” McKinstry said. “The first time in 2015-16 and we won the national championship. The second time in 2018-19 and we won the national championship. But neither of those teams had won a regional championship or been a national tournament qualifier. So this group is way ahead of those teams.”

Kansas City Kansas Community College sophomore Aliyah Myers is the Defensive Player of the Year and, with teammate Tiaira Earnest, a member of the first All-Kansas Jayhawk Division II women’s basketball team for 2021. The two Blue Devils were also named to the All-Region VI first team.

A third Blue Devil, sophomore Hannah Valentine, was named to the All-KJCCC third team in a vote of conference coaches who could not vote for members of their own team.

The trio led the Blue Devils to the NJCAA Division II national tournament for the third time in six years by handing No. 1 ranked Johnson County its first defeat in the Plains Regional championship game. JCCC would go on to finish runnerup to Parkland in the national tournament while the Blue Devils finished 21-4 with two losses to JCCC and two in the national tournament.

A 5-7 guard from Derby, Myers led the Jayhawk Conference in steals with 74, an average of 3.5 per game, and also in assists with 120, an average of 5.0 per contest.

“Extremely happy that the other coaches recognized what Alliyah met to our team,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “She is the most complete guard we have had in my tenure.” Myers also finished second in scoring (13.5) and was third in rebounding (5.5).

Earnest, a 5-6 sophomore from Detroit, finished second in steals with 42 despite missing the Blue Devils’ first 11 games because of injury.

She averaged a team high 14.8 points a game in conference play and 12.5 for the season. Despite her lack of size, she was second in rebounding with 5.6 per game. She had a career high 30 points against Fort Scott, the most points scored by a Blue Devil in McKinstry’s six years at KCKCC.

“Tiaira really elevated her game from her freshman to sophomore season,” McKinstry said. “Her speed and athleticism were very hard to defend and combined with her shooting ability and defense made her a huge weapon for our program.”

Valentine, a 5-9 sophomore from Platte County, led the Blue Devils in scoring with a 13.6 average but missed the last 11 games including the playoffs and national tournament because of a leg injury. She also led the team in rebounds (6.5) and field goal shooting, knocking down 75 of 125 shots for 60 percent.

“One of our most consistent players since day one, Hannah was a great addition to our program this year and very deserving of being recognized as one of the top players in our conference,” McKinstry said. “Our leading scorer prior to her injury and the conference leader in field goal percentage, she is going to do big things wherever she lands next season.”

Myers and Earnest were joined on the first team by Jaylen Townsend and Lajahda Boyland of Johnson County, Jayla Smith of Labette and Leikyn Walker of Fort Scott.

Townsend, who led JCCC in scoring (14.6) was named the conference’s Most Valuable Player while Walker is the first Fort Scott player to be named Freshman of the Year after leading the conference in scoring (19.5). Veteran Ben Conrad of JCCC was named Coach of the Year.

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Lightning struck twice in a matter of seconds for Kansas City Kansas Community College’s unbeaten women’s soccer team Wednesday

Two goals in the span of 45 seconds earned the Blue Devils a 2-0 win over arch-rival Johnson County and the Jayhawk Conference East championship – the college’s first.

“We’re going to get a banner,” said an excited Blue Devil forward Corrine Hughes.

Vaulting up to No. 6 in the latest NJCAA DI rankings, the win was the 11th in a row for the Blue Devils and put them in position to wrap up the Region VI championship with a home win over Hutchinson Saturday (2 p.m.) or at Coffeyville a week from Saturday.

Scoreless through the first half, the Blue Devils struck with a flurry. Freshman Katarina Oelschlaeger broke the 0-0 deadlock when she fought through a scramble to drive a shot just inside the right post at 36:26.

Just 45 seconds later at 34:49. Maddy Broeker took a pass from Kayley Pedersen from in front of the goal and her kick got past a diving Cavalier goalkeeper for a 2-0 lead.

“We’ve been notorious for scoring in bunches,” KCKCC coach Shawn Uhlenhake said. “We got the first goal out of a scramble and then came right back down the field with a good finish for the second one.”

The Blue Devils got an outstanding performance from freshman goalkeeper Susie Lopez, who had a couple of spectacular diving and mid-air saves in the first half and then blunted every Cavalier challenge in the second half. It was the seventh shutout of the season for Lopez and backup Mia Tomasic, who have allowed only five goals all season.

“Lopez had a great game,” Uhlenhake said. “She’s very good at making reaction saves. Anything in front of her, she’ll get. And the defense has done a good job of protecting Susie and Mia, not allowing a lot of shots by getting in the way of the ball and blocking shots. No one is getting wide open shots; everything is being challenged.”

The Blue Devil lineup has pretty much been intact this season with Jaidyn Yingling, Paige Liston, Katrina Sargent and Grace Runyon on the back line; Melissa Siegel, Kaylee Shaw and Pedersen at midfield; and Hughes, Oelschlaeger and Broeker at the forwards.

Uhlenhake said the win was “more of a relief than anything. The last two years our goal has been to win conference. Soccer is the only sport without a banner in our building. With so many games in the first week (4), I could not tell our players how important each game was but they’ve responded well. But I didn’t expect to be 11-0.”

The Blue Devils’ final two games will be against the two teams that are second in the two divisions. Hutchinson (5-3-2) trails Cowley (9-1-1) in the West while Coffeyville (7-3) is KCKCC’s closest pursuer in the East.