by Alan Hoskins
Kansas City Kansas Community College wasted no time in clearing its final hurdle and set up the Jayhawk Conference women’s “Game of the Year No. 1.”
Surging to an 18-0 lead in the opening minutes, the Lady Blue Devils raced to an 83-44 win at Fort Scott Wednesday night.
“We came out ready to play,” said KCKCC coach Valerie Stambersky.
The win kept the No. 7 ranked Blue Devils (5-0) unbeaten in the Division II standings heading into a showdown at No. 1 and unbeaten Johnson County (6-0) Saturday at 2 p.m.
JCCC passed its biggest regional test to date Wednesday by stretching its unbeaten streak to 22-0 with a 58-49 win at No. 8 Highland. The Lady Cavaliers also lead the Jayhawk Conference standings at 6-0 with the Blue Devils just a half-game back at 6-1.
KCKCC got a couple of career bests at Fort Scott. Janai Mitchell scored 18 points including 10 of 14 free throws while Eirenei Alesana came off the bench to go 4-for-4 from the floor in a 10-point performance. Erin Anderson added 12 points, Cierra Gaines 11, Cassidy Harbert 8 and Cheyenne North 7.
Anderson led the defense with six steals and North chipped in with four as the Blue Devils forced 33 turnovers. Iland Shurn led the rebounding with nine in just 14 minutes off the bench while Mitchell and North had seven each and Harbert six.
“A solid performance overall,” Stambersky said. “Our pressure defense was good again which led to a lot of transition points.”
Fort Scott was held to just three field goals and 13.0 percent shooting the first half as KCKCC opened a 39-14 lead.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.