by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information
A Kansas City Kansas Community College women’s basketball season that had reached so many heights in a year unlike no other came to end 1,000 miles away.
Held scoreless the final three minutes of play, the Blue Devils dropped a 67-62 decision Friday to Arkansas State Mid-South (24-2) in the semifinals of the NJCAA Division II national tournament consolation bracket played at Catawba Valley in Hickory, N.C.
The loss ended the Blue Devil season at 21-4, a winning percentage of .840 that is one of the Top 10 in college history. Upsetting No. 1 Johnson County 67-59 to win the Plains regional championship, the Blue Devils finished No. 5 in the final national poll on the way to a third national tournament appearance in six years.
Two of the losses came at the hands of Johnson County, which went against Lakeland in the national championship game Saturday night; the other two came in the national tournament.
“More than anything I think it was difficult to play when there’s nothing on the line,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “We had a nice run to start the third quarter but it was our only seven minutes of good basketball all night. Otherwise, we were bad in just about every facet of the game.”
The Blue Devils fell behind 12-3 and 9-0 in the first two games of the national tourney and it took two quarters to catch up and Friday’s game was no different. Arkansas State jumped in front 11-4 and never trailed in a 37-30 first half.
But it was the Blue Devils who came out smoking in the third quarter, outscoring the Greyhounds 15-2 to start the second half. Three-pointers by D.J. Guillory and Faith Putz and Ekla Elam’s layup vaulted KCKCC in front 38-37 and the Blue Devils extended the lead to 45-39 on two free throws by Elam, a 3-point play by Putz and a layup by D.Q. Guillory.
However, the 6-point lead was the most the Blue Devils could muster. Arkansas State pulled back even 49-49 at the three quarter mark and set up a see-saw start to the fourth quarter. KCKCC led twice, the last 55-51 on a 3-pointer by Aysia Arrowood with eight minutes left. Down 60-57, the Blue Devils pulled even on a 3-point play by Aliyah Myers with 4:41 to go and Myers kept them close 63-62 on a layup with 3:02 left before things turned sour.
The Blue Devils finished the season with three missed shots, two missed free throws and two fouls while Arkansas State got a layup and free throw from Aaliyah Lee and two additional free throws for the 67-62 win.
Putz had 12 points and Myers, Elam and D.J. Guillory 10 points each to lead the Blue Devils offensively while Arrowood added a pair of 3-pointers and Lacy Whitcomb and D.Q. Guillory five points each. Myers led in both rebounds (8) and assists (4) while Elam had five rebounds.
Cierra Penn had 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead Arkansas State, which had more rebounds (36-34), fewer turnovers (28-24) and shot slightly better (.407-.396).