by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s defending national women’s champions will begin Region VI playoff play Saturday at Fort Scott, the team that knocked them out of hosting a first round playoff contest. Tipoff time at Fort Scott’s Arnold Arena will be at noon.
Johnson County, the No. 3 ranked team in NJCAA Division II and Jayhawk Conference champion, ended KCKCC’s final hopes of a home playoff berth with a 59-53 win in the regular season finale for both teams Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Fort Scott was rallying for a 71-65 win at Brown Mackie that pulled the Greyhounds into a fourth place regional tie at 5-7 and based on NJCAA power rankings and strength of schedule, Fort Scott was awarded Saturday’s first round playoff berth. KCKCC (17-13) and Fort Scott (17-8) split their two games, the Blue Devils winning at home 62-56 but falling at Fort Scott 85-62 Feb. 22.
“We get an opportunity to make up for a poor performance just a week ago,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Fort Scott is a very well coached team so I know they will be prepared. It will be a tough test for sure.”
A combination of frigid shooting and an aggressive JCCC man-to-man defense foiled the Blue Devils Wednesday. KCKCC scored the game’s first two field goals for a 5-0 lead in the first two minutes but went the next 15 minutes without a field goal and trailed 22-13 with 3:38 left in the half. But even with just five field goals in 17 attempts (29.4 percent), the Blue Devils trailed just 27-20 at halftime,
Unfortunately, KCKCC shooting did not get better in the second half – just 18.5 percent on 5-of-27 as the Cavaliers broke the game open with an 18-5 third quarter and closed out a 28-2 regular season.
Brooklyn Wagler had 13 points and eight rebounds and Millie Shade 11 points, seven rebounds and five steals for KCKCC but no other Blue Devil had more than one field goal. Despite giving up a sizeable height advantage, the Blue Devils did hold a 36-33 edge in rebounding and defensively held the high scoring Cavaliers to 20 points below their season average.
“I was happy with our execution on the defensive end of the floor,” McKinstry said. “We did a good job making them move the ball and they had to be real patient and work for their baskets. With the exception of allowing two of their preferred shooters combine for seven 3-pointers, we should have done enough to give ourselves a shot.”
Not enough, however, to overcome 21 turnovers and just 10 field goals in 44 attempts for 22.7 percent. Ironically, JCCC also had 44 attempts but made 19 for 43.2 percent.
“We simply aren’t detailed or disciplined enough in our offensive execution and that’s my responsibility,” McKinstry said. “We’ve got to do a better job on the offensive end or it won’t matter how good we play defensively.”
The win gave JCCC its second straight Jayhawk title at 11-1 while Highland (10-2) nipped Labette (9-3) at Labette Wednesday 75-74 to take second place and a first round bye. Labette (24-6) will play Brown Mackie (11-19) in Saturday’s other first round game.