by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
The Field House at Kansas City Kansas Community College has seen a lot of wild games in its more than 40 years but nothing can quite match the mayhem of Saturday’s Keith Lindsey Classic.
Things started impressively with the unveiling of a banner proclaiming the 2016 Blue Devil women’s team “2016 NJCAA DII National Basketball Champions.”
That set up a match between longtime rivals KCKCC and Penn Valley which turned bizarre because of a rash of Penn Valley injuries that left coach Betty Lennox and the Lady Scouts with just six players – three of whom would foul out. But even then it took two clutch 3-point goals by Millie Shade for KCKCC to escape with an 80-76 win.
Leading 64-57, the Scouts were reduced to just four players when Keiry Bonnet fouled out with 6:26 left. They were still leading 68-62 when Corey Black fouled out with 4:07 to go, leaving just three players on the floor – Mia Cushon, Laken Kroge and Zoe Albon.
Field goals by Aeriel Holiday and DaShundra Morgan got the Blue Devils within one at 70-69 only to have the Scouts make six of eight free throws to re-open a 76-70 lead with 1:38 remaining. That’s when Shade, a 5-11 redshirt sophomore from Lawrence Free State, came to the rescue, draining back-to-back long range 3-pointers, the second which pulled KCKCC even at 76-76 with 1:00 to go.
Penn Valley had a chance to go back in front but an exhausted Cushion missed a pair of free throws left with 56 seconds left and the Blue Devils won it on a Brie Tauai pass to Morgan for a layup with 35 seconds remaining and then added a pair of Morgan free throws in the final six seconds.
“That was without a doubt one of the most unique games I’ve ever been a part of,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “We didn’t play well but we did enough to keep the game close the entire time until we were able to finally get over the hump and take a lead. Our team is too talented to keep putting ourselves in such a position. We continually make mistakes and ill-advised decisions on things we’ve spent countless time on in practice. We were lucky to come away victorious today and we will certainly continue to work hard every day to become a better team.”
Brie Tauai led four Blue Devils in double figures with 19 points and a game high 11 rebounds. Morgan added 15 points, Shade 13 and Kayla Horn 10 while Brooklyn Wagler helped KCKCC win the rebound battle 39-35 with eight. Guilty of 17 turnovers, the Blue Devils needed 51.5 percent shooting to erase a 59-52 three-quarter deficit.
The Blue Devils’ biggest problem, however, was Mia Cushion, a 5-8 guard from Raytown who poured in 38 points on 10-of-18 field goal attempts, made 18-of-25 free throws and continually kept drawing fouls despite having just two other teammates on the floor. Despite all the four trouble, the resilient Scouts also shot a sizzling 58.3 percent (14-of-24) the final half.