by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s No. 2 ranked Lady Blue Devils got another weapon in their arsenal Thursday.
Playing in her first game of the season, 5-10 sophomore Caroline Hoppock scored a game high 23 points in leading KCKCC to an 87-69 win over Southeast Nebraska.
The win improved the Blue Devils’ record to 15-1 heading into a 6 p.m. Saturday rematch with Metropolitan Community College. It’s the final home game until Jayhawk Conference play against Hesston Jan. 25. The Saturday contest will follow a KCKCC-Metro men’s clash at 4 p.m.
Hoppock averaged 7.3 points and tied the KCKCC record for 3-point goals with eight in a single game in the Blue Devils’ national championship season last year but missed the first 15 games of this season with a pre-season injury. She returned Thursday with a spectacular shooting performance, hitting 5-of-7 3-pointers and 8-of-11 shots overall.
Equally important was when the scoring came, 19 of KCKCC’s last 30 points when the game was still on the line.
Trailing by as many as 15 points late in the first half, Southeast had cut the KCKCC lead to 57-49 when Hoppock returned to lineup with 2:13 left in the third quarter and promptly drained three straight 3-pointers and a pair of free throws in a span of just over three minutes to open a 70-52 lead.
“It’s nice to have someone who can make shots back in the lineup,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Offensively, Caroline is really skilled and when she’s locked in, she can knock down shots in a hurry.”
Guard Alliyah Myers added 18 points, five rebounds and four assists, Jada Mayberry 12 points, Kamryn Estell 11 points and a team high eight rebounds and Destiny Zamudio nine points and four assists. The Blue Devils had 23 assists on 31 field goals with Adoreya Williams leading the way with a career high six.
“I liked our assists, I liked our free throws (16-of-21), I liked our steals (14) and I liked that we forced 27 turnovers,” McKinstry said. “But anytime you force 27 turnovers it should lead to a lot more possessions and opportunities. We turned it over 19 times and missed 15 layups. It’s a new year. We had a nice long break. But we still have the same issues – too many turnovers and too many missed layups.
“This team is not the second best team in the country. The bottom line is we’ve got to be better and I think we can be better. This team does a good job of sharing the basketball but we’ve got to clean things up and hold ourselves accountable.”
Cassidy Weinandt had 19 points and Jayden Widener 10 points and 8 rebounds for Southeast, which actually outshot the Blue Devils from the field (.429-.413) and 3-point (.350-.290). KCKCC had a 46-41 rebound edge as all 11 Blue Devils had at least one rebound.
After Saturday, the Lady Blue Devils are on the road for four straight starting Wednesday at Missouri Southern junior varsity. They are also at Park University junior varsity Jan. 17 and North Central Missouri in Trenton Jan. 18 before the Jayhawk Conference opener at Labette Jan. 22.