by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
It was Sophomore Day at Kansas City Kansas Community College Saturday and the Lady Blue Devil sophs closed out their regular home season careers in style and with a flourish.
A 97-50 thumping of Brown Mackie boosted the No. 11 ranked Blue Devils’ record to 25-3 and kept their hopes alive for a second place Region VI finish and a first round playoff bye.
A sweep of their final two road games at Hesston Monday and Fort Scott Wednesday and a Highland home loss to No. 1 ranked Johnson County Monday would toss KCKCC and Highland into a deadlock for second at 9-3. The tie would be broken on points based on strength of schedule with the second place team drawing a bye; the third place team holding a first round playoff game Saturday.
The Blue Devils took a 21-15 lead early and led 52-32 at halftime against Brown Mackie as all five sophomores played major roles in the win:
• Sierra Roberts led all scorers with a career high 26 points including 5-of-9 3-pointers.
• Erin Anderson had 22 points including four treys, seven rebounds and three steals.
• Cheyenne North had her 11th double double of the season with 10 points and a game high 16 rebounds along with three assists.
• Arrica Day had a game high 12 assists and three steals.
• Janay Jacobs had a career high seven assists, five points and three rebounds.
In addition, freshman Brie Tauai had a career high 24 points on 11-of-16 shooting and just missed a double double with eight rebounds.
“A great team win, a great all-around performance by everyone,” said KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry. “It was especially gratifying because it was a day when our five sophomores were recognized and their friends and family members were able to see all the hard work put in by these young ladies and the results that have come from it.”
Brown Mackie actually led by four points midway through a first quarter that had three ties and five lead changes before the Blue Devils surged to their 22-point halftime lead by shooting 51.3 percent from the field and they expanded the lead by limiting Brown Mackie to 22.6 percent shooting the second half.
“We had some lapses at different points in the game but it was clear that when we executed our game plan, we were able to have some really good things happen,” McKinstry said. That included a 53-28 rebound domination and 13 steals on 20 Brown Mackie turnovers.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.