by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s unbeaten Lady Blue Devils got a much-needed lift from sophomore guard Tiaira Earnest Thursday night.
Playing in only her second game of the season after a pre-season injury, Earnest scored a career-high 18 points to help the Blue Devils hold off Metropolitan Community College 76-67 on Metro’s Penn Valley campus Thursday night.
The win was the eighth straight for KCKCC, which moved up to No. 4 in the latest NJCAA Division II rankings behind two other Jayhawk Conference powers, No. 1 Labette and No. 3 Johnson County. The Blue Devils resume action Saturday, playing Graceland junior varsity in Lamoni, Iowa. Game time is 2 p.m. and it will be followed by a men’s game at 4 p.m.
Both teams then return home Tuesday to play host to North Central Missouri before opening Jayhawk Conference play at Johnson County a week from Saturday.
A 94-44 winner over Metro just a week ago, the Blue Devils struggled between frigid shooting and turnovers in the early going. It was 2-2 after five minutes before Earnest’s four first-quarter field goals powered KCKCC to a 16-9 lead.
The Blue Devils led by as many as 15 points midway through the second quarter on the way to a 36-24 halftime lead. KCKCC was led by 12 points from Earnest and eight from Hannah Valentine.
KCKCC led by as many as 19 points with seven minutes left only to get a bit of a scare in the losing minutes as the Wolves closed to 68-58 with 4:40 left and it took a 3-pointer by Earnest and a De’Jaria Guillory layup to rebuild the lead to 73-58.
Four Blue Devils scored in double figures. In addition to Earnest’s 18, Valentine had 12, De’Jaria Guillory and Ikla Elam 11 each, DeQuaria Guillory 8, and Mercery Roberts and Lacy Whitcomb 7 each. Earnest also three assists, two assists and six rebounds that trailed only the seven corralled by Elam. The Blue Devils were 27-of-63 for 42.9 percent from the field but just 6-of-26 from 3-point (.231).
Metro got 27 points each from Kenaja Green and Mackenzie Callaway but the Wolves were just 21-of-67 from the field for 31.3 percent.
