by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Officially, Kansas City Kansas Community College’s women came away with a split in three games over the past weekend – winning one, losing one and canceling a third contest.
Defeated by NJCAA Division I power Northeast Nebraska 70-53 in the opening round of the Iowa Western Classic in Council Bluffs Friday, the Lady Blue Devils bounced back Sunday with a 67-62 win over Missouri Valley JV in Marshall. A second game against Iowa Western Saturday had to be canceled because of a massive power failure throughout the Iowa Western campus although it is hoped the game can be rescheduled.
Ranked No. 11 in the latest NJCAA Division II national poll, the Lady Blue Devils (8-4) will close out first semester play Friday, Dec. 16, against Southwestern Iowa in Creston at 5:30 p.m.
Unofficially, KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry is hopeful lessons learned in the loss to a big and talented Northeast Nebraska team will pay off during the second half of the season.
“I am certainly not a ‘moral victory’ type of guy but I was pretty happy with a lot of things we did,” McKinstry said.
“Northeast (13-1) is an outstanding team and certainly has a great shot at returning to the Division I national tournament but we held them below their season’s averages in field goal percentage (.394) and 3-point percentage (.103). They’re a team that really likes to get out and run and score layups at will with a great job in the assist-to-turnover ratio and we held them to negative in that category as well.”
However, without a player taller than 5-11, the Blue Devils had no answer to 6-3 Mykala Baylor, who had 21 points and 13 rebounds, and 6-2 Iva Belosevic, who had 11 rebounds and 9 points in leading the Lady Badgers to a 53-31 rebound domination. The win was the 11th in a row for Northeast.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t take care of the ball (27 turnovers) and those mistakes against talented teams are going to prevent you from coming away with a win,” McKinstry said. “But I have no doubt we can learn from this game and will be better off in January and February from it.”
Brie Tauai, a 5-11 sophomore from Blue Devils, led the Blue Devils with a double double with 21 points and 10 rebounds including 3-of-5 from 3-point. Millie Shade and Whitney Hazlett added seven points each for the Blue Devils.
Defensively, the Blue Devils forced 22 turnovers but “we did not play well at both ends of the floor,” McKinstry said.