by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Fueled by near record performances from Lillie Moore and Ashley Daniels, Kansas City Kansas Community College rolled to a 73-52 win over Saint Mary junior varsity at Leavenworth Tuesday.
The win boosted the Lady Blue Devils’ record to 15-4 heading into their final non-conference test of the season against William Penn’s junior varsity in Oskaloosa, Iowa, Thursday. The Blue Devils then begin Jayhawk Conference play at Johnson County on Wednesday.
Moore, a 6-1 freshman from Magnolia, Ark., pulled down 20 rebounds Tuesday to become only the third Blue Devil with 20 or more rebounds, trailing only Kesia Houston, who grabbed 23 and 22 in 1994; and Brooklyn Wagler, who had 21 last season. Moore also had 14 points for her fifth double-double of the season.
A 5-7 former Schlagle standout, Daniels was 5-of-6 from 3-point putting her in a multi-way tie for 10th place for treys in a single game. She finished with a career high 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting from the field.
Yet another freshman, Kisi Young, led the Blue Devils in scoring with 20 points and added seven rebounds while guard Caitlyn Stewart had nine points, six rebounds and six assists and forward Lizzie Stark seven points and nine rebounds.
“Ashley Daniels was fantastic for us tonight and once again our forwards (41 points and 36 rebounds) gave us some outstanding numbers,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “To be honest though, we missed 20 shots in the paint and as good as our numbers were from the post players, they easily could have been better. We need to be a bit stronger and finish more opportunities around the basket that come our way.
‘But overall, this was a good fame for us. Saint Mary’s had some very good players for this game and I thought our team raised its level and made things very difficult for the Spires. I was especially happy with our defense and rebounding efforts.”
KCKCC finished with more than twice as many rebounds (62-28) and shot 41.9 percent to just .246 for Saint Mary.