by Alan Hoskins
Cheyenne North earned National NJCAA Player of the Week honors for her play in a pair of Kansas City Kansas Community College road wins but those performances paled in comparison to her effort Friday in leading the Lady Blue Devils to one of the most spine-tingling comebacks in history.
Facing Coffeyville, one of only two teams to defeat KCKCC in a 29-3 campaign last season, the Blue Devils trailed by nine points with seven minutes to go before North and the defense rallied KCKCC to a 69-68 win and kept the Blue Devils unbeaten at 6-0.
A 5-11 sophomore from Gallatin, Tenn., scored a career high 30 points including 12 of KCKCC’s final 20 points in a 20-10 finish. In addition, she pulled down 14 rebounds and blocked six shots but her biggest play came on the defensive end, a stolen pass that wiped out Coffeyville’s last chance for a win.
North put KCKCC ahead 68-67 with a short-range field goal with 32.6 seconds left. Coffeyville tied it with one of two free throws 16 seconds later but freshman Valencia Scott regained the lead for KCKCC with a free throw but missed a second and Coffeyville called time out to set up a game-winning play with six seconds to go.
That’s when North literally stepped front and center. Seemingly coming out of nowhere, she deflected the in-bounds pass, retrieved it and KCKCC ran out the clock. “A huge play, huge,” said KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry. “She laid back and then at the last second broke and got the ball. I’ve been telling her she’s the best player on the floor and her second half tonight showed why she was the National Player of the Week.”
“I think No. 23 (Chanel Khammarath) got a little lazy on the pass,” said North, who was mobbed after the win. “This feels great. They beat us pretty bad (71-56) down there last season.”
Scott added 11 points, Erin Anderson 9 and Aricca Daye 8 for KCKCC but McKinstry was more impressed by their defensive effort which included holding the Ravens without a field goal the final 5.06 of play.
“They really disrupted Coffeyville’s guard play,” McKinstry said. “That’s a good team.”
McKinstry was also happy with the Blue Devils resiliency.
“We had several chances where we could have folded but we kept battling back and chipping away,” McKinstry said. “We got down 11 points and then tied it only to have Coffeyville score the next six points.”
Trailing 58-49, North started the KCKCC comeback with a goal and then she and Sierra Roberts drained back-to-back three-pointers to help get the game tied. Coffeyville went back in front 64-58 but North sandwiched baskets around an Anderson field goal and Scott gave KCKCC its first lead 66-65 with two free throws with 57.5 seconds left and set up the furious finish.
Pitted against another former Jayhawk rival, Allen County, in today’s finals of the Keith Lindsey Classic, the Blue Devils are right back in action Monday when they host Missouri Valley JV at 5 p.m.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.