by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
The first round of the NJCAA Region VI playoffs couldn’t have started out much worse for Kansas City Kansas Community College’s women Wednesday night and things didn’t get much better until the final minutes.
Leading Fort Scott 84-80 after trailing much of the way, the Lady Blue Devils got the biggest shot of the game, a 3-pointer from the baseline by 6-1 Nija Collier with 2:01 left for an 87-80 lead that paved the way for a 91-84 KCKCC win.
The win, KCKCC’s 21st in 31 starts, sends the Blue Devils to Highland Saturday for a semifinal clash with the unbeaten and No. 3 nationally ranked Scotties at 1 p.m.
KCKCC came into the playoff opener off 16 and 31-point wins over Fort Scott this year but it was the Lady Greyhounds (12-16) who took control from the start, surging to a 9-0 lead that brought KCKCC’s second unit into the game just 2½ into the contest.
The Greyhounds widened the lead to 15-3 and it took sharp-shooting by guards Miya Ford and Camryn Swanson to keep KCKCC in striking distance.
Swanson scored the Blue Devils’ first nine points including a pair of 3-pointers and Ford had four threes and 16 points in the former Piper standout’s best offensive performance of the season.
Trailing 19-12 after one quarter, the Blue Devils led by as many as five points midway through the second quarter only to trail 40-39 at the half.
Fort Scott rebuilt its lead to 50-43 just four minutes into the second half and set up a furious see-saw finish that had six ties and seven lead changes.
KCKCC finally went ahead to stay 78-77 on a Collier layup with 4:42 left and two field goals by Lillie Moore kept the Blue Devils in front and set up Collier’s 3-point dagger from the corner.
Outscoring Fort Scott 26-20 the fourth period, the Blue Devils were 8-of-11 from the field for a torrid 72.7 percent and corralled seven rebounds.
“Certainly not our best effort defensively but after a slow start, I was really proud of our second group that came in and gave us some life,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Camryn Swanson came in and you could tell she came ready to play and Miya Ford gave us a huge spark after re-entering the game, Miya is a fantastic athlete and has given us some very good performances this season.”
Ultimately, the game was decided by McKinstry’s decision to go with his big front line of Collier, Moore and Kisi Young, who combined for 23 of KCKCC’s 26 fourth quarter points. Collier had 10, Young 7 and Moore 6 and three rebounds.
It took such a finish because Fort Scott had one of its best if not its best shooting performance of the season. Averaging 41.4 percent on the season, the Greyhounds shot 50.8 from the field and 45.8 percent from three (.315 for the season). Arkiarra Clark had 27 points and Jade Winter 22 and each had four treys for Fort Scott.
“Eventually we were able to get some very good production out of Lillie Moore and Nija Collier inside,” McKinstry said. “They’re as talented as it gets at this level and when they polish some things up, they’re going to be very, very good players. But our inexperience continued to shine as we made plenty mistakes on both ends of the floor (20 turnovers).”
Five Blue Devils scored in double figures and accounted for all but eight of the 91 points. Ford, who was 5-of-9 from 3-point, had a career high 20 points to lead way.
Moore contributed 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and six rebounds while Collier scored 18 and grabbed a game high nine rebounds. Missing just one of six shots from the field,
Collier was 7-of-8 from the foul line. Swanson added 15 points on 4-of-6 3-pointers; and Young had 11 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots. Gena Ojeda and Caitlyn Stewart led in assists with four and Ashley Daniels, Alix Wilson and Young had three each as the Blue Devils had 18 assists on 29 field goals.
After netting just 4-of-15 first quarter shots (.267), the Blue Devils shot better than 50 percent in each of the final three quarters and finished at 50.9 percent. They also had a 35-31 edge on the boards that led to 20 second half points.
