by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Johnson County lived up to its No. 5 national women’s ranking Saturday, racing to a 70-40 win over Kansas City Kansas Community College.
It was the first meeting of the two teams since KCKCC defeated the No. 1 ranked Cavaliers in the Division II Region VI championship game 64-57 en route to the 2016 national championship.
The win vaulted JCCC (22-2) into a first place tie in Region VI with Highland (21-2) and Labette (20-4), all at 5-1. Ranked No. 8, Highland forged the tie with a 104-67 home court thumping of No. 12 and previously unbeaten Labette Saturday.
KCKCC, meanwhile, remained alone in fourth place at 3-3 and 15-8 overall heading into a home clash with Hesston Wednesday in the first game of a doubleheader tipping off at 5:30 p.m.
Led by 5-7 sophomore guard Kayla Horn, KCKCC led 15-14 after one quarter at Johnson County. A 3-pointer by Brie Tauai kept the lead at 18-17 only to have the Cavaliers run off 18 consecutive points for a 35-20 lead and the Lady Blue Devils managed only one other field goal in the quarter. Just 2-of-13 in the period, KCKCC trailed 38-20 at the half.
“I felt like we began the game with the kind of effort and energy that we needed in order to compete with a great program like the one they have at Johnson County,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Unfortunately, we did not sustain that past the first quarter.”
The one bright spot for the Blue Devils was the play of Horn, who had a career high 19 points including 11 of KCKCC’s first 15 points.
“I was very happy to see Kayla step up in a game of this magnitude,” McKinstry said. “What she was able to show today is what we knew she was capable of and just hadn’t clicked to this point. She’s extremely talented and gifted so we’re hopeful that she can take today and carry it over moving forward.”
However, no other Blue Devil had more than four points. Brooklyn Wagler led KCKCC in rebounding with seven but the Blue Devils were dominated 45-25 on the boards by the Cavaliers, who scored 22 points on second chance opportunities. The rebounds plus 17 turnovers also enabled JCCC to put up 26 more shots, netting 24-of 69 for 34.8 percent while the Blue Devils were just 11-of-43 for 25.6 percent.