Tag: KCKCC women’s basketball

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Kansas City Kansas Community College’s unbeaten Lady Blue Devils got a much-needed lift from sophomore guard Tiaira Earnest Thursday night.

Playing in only her second game of the season after a pre-season injury, Earnest scored a career-high 18 points to help the Blue Devils hold off Metropolitan Community College 76-67 on Metro’s Penn Valley campus Thursday night.

The win was the eighth straight for KCKCC, which moved up to No. 4 in the latest NJCAA Division II rankings behind two other Jayhawk Conference powers, No. 1 Labette and No. 3 Johnson County. The Blue Devils resume action Saturday, playing Graceland junior varsity in Lamoni, Iowa. Game time is 2 p.m. and it will be followed by a men’s game at 4 p.m.

Both teams then return home Tuesday to play host to North Central Missouri before opening Jayhawk Conference play at Johnson County a week from Saturday.

A 94-44 winner over Metro just a week ago, the Blue Devils struggled between frigid shooting and turnovers in the early going. It was 2-2 after five minutes before Earnest’s four first-quarter field goals powered KCKCC to a 16-9 lead.

The Blue Devils led by as many as 15 points midway through the second quarter on the way to a 36-24 halftime lead. KCKCC was led by 12 points from Earnest and eight from Hannah Valentine.

KCKCC led by as many as 19 points with seven minutes left only to get a bit of a scare in the losing minutes as the Wolves closed to 68-58 with 4:40 left and it took a 3-pointer by Earnest and a De’Jaria Guillory layup to rebuild the lead to 73-58.

Four Blue Devils scored in double figures. In addition to Earnest’s 18, Valentine had 12, De’Jaria Guillory and Ikla Elam 11 each, DeQuaria Guillory 8, and Mercery Roberts and Lacy Whitcomb 7 each. Earnest also three assists, two assists and six rebounds that trailed only the seven corralled by Elam. The Blue Devils were 27-of-63 for 42.9 percent from the field but just 6-of-26 from 3-point (.231).

Metro got 27 points each from Kenaja Green and Mackenzie Callaway but the Wolves were just 21-of-67 from the field for 31.3 percent.

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

The beat goes on for Kansas City Kansas Community College’s high-geared women’s basketball team.

The highest scoring NJCAA Division II team in the nation, the unbeaten and No. 6 ranked Blue Devils literally raced to a 94-44 win over Metropolitan Community College Tuesday night.

It was the seventh straight win for KCKCC, which leads the nation in total points, field goals and games played and is second in scoring average (87.7) and steals and third in assists. In all, KCKCC ranks in the Top 10 in 11 categories.

The Blue Devils never trailed Metropolitan in scoring 90 or more points for the fourth time this season.

Capitalizing on 38 Wolves turnovers, the Blue Devils time and again beat Metro’s defense down the floor for layups. Leading 24-10 after one quarter and 42-21 at the half in which reserves combined for 20 points, KCKCC poured in 34 points in the third quarter in shooting 63.2 percent.

Eleven Blue Devils scored, eight with seven or more points. Aliyah Myers led the way with 19 points, 13 in the first half; six rebounds and eight assists, all game highs.

Tiaira Earnest and DeQuaria Guillory added 12 points each, Ikla Elam and Trinity McDow 9, Mercer Roberts 8 and Faith Putz and Lacy Whitcomb 7. De’Jaria Guillory led in steals with six; Earnest in assists with four.

“Obvious Aliyah Myers was fantastic the first half,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “Leading the nation in steals coming into the game, she was credited with only one but she does so much more than she’s credited for. She is our motor and gets us going.

“But we had some other good performance. De’Jaria Guillory gave us a huge energy boost when she got in the first quarter and jump-started us with six steals. Ikla Elam gave us big boost in the second quarter. And while we don’t have a dominant post player, our what I call a ‘three-headed’ monster of Mercer Roberts, Trinity McDow and Elam gave us 26 points and 11 rebounds from the post position. It’s great to have their depth and they all bring something different to the table.”

McKinstry was equally happy with the defense.

“Forcing 38 turnovers with no full court press, just man-to-man half court was fantastic,” he said. “This is the best guard talent I’ve had.”

Unless McKinstry is able to add another game, the Blue Devils are now idle until a week from Thursday (Feb. 18), a return battle with Metropolitan on the Penn Valley campus.

by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC sports information

Ranked No. 6 in the latest NJCAA DII women’s basketball poll, Kansas City Kansas Community College made a statement for climbing even higher Monday.

Facing a Jefferson College team that had defeated No, 10 Lincoln Land and lost to No. 7 Parkland in Hillsboro, Missouri, the Blue Devils (6-0) posted a 73-44 win and then followed it up with an 86-66 home win over Graceland junior varsity Tuesday.

“I really didn’t see that coming,” admitted KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry of the win over Jefferson. “They had played two top 10 teams and beaten one so I thought we might be in for a long night. Plus we’d had a long trip to William Penn on Friday and a four-hour trip Monday so to go into their place and play the way we did, I was pretty happy.”

The Blue Devils jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead but after the Vikings closed to 10-9, KCKCC opened an 18-9 first quarter lead and stretched it to 33-17 at halftime.

“I told the team at halftime I didn’t feel like we were up 16 points because of how hard Jefferson was playing. I can’t remember being up that much and feeling like it was a two possession game because they were playing so hard. But every time Jefferson made a comeback, we would answer,” he said.

The Vikings made their biggest run in the third quarter, scoring 19 points.

“Ikia Elam had huge moments in the third quarter, scoring two baskets and making two great passes to De’Jaria Guillory for buckets,” McKinstry said.

Nine Blue Devils played and all had at least five points. Hannah Valentine and Jada Mayberry had 13 points each, Aliyah Myers 9, Guillory and Faith Putz 8, Mercer Roberts and Ilam 6 and Lacy Whitcomb and Trinity McDow 5 each.

“The balanced scoring, answering every run and the defensive effort were all very satisfying,” McKinstry added.

On Tuesday, the Blue Devils needed a big second half to subdue a feisty Graceland junior varsity team 86-66. The Yellowjackets led by as many as six points in a first half that had four ties and seven lead changes. Trailing 31-25 with 3½ minutes left in the second quarter, KCKCC needed an 11-5 run to forge a 36-36 halftime tie before taking control with a 12-2 run to start the second half.

The Blue Devils got another big performance from Valentine, who had a double-double with 24 points on 10-of-14 shots and 12 rebounds, both game highs. Putz added 19 points including a trio of 3-pointers; Myers 13 points; and McDow 10. It was big all-around night for Myers, who had six assists, four steals and eight rebounds. Whitcomb led in steals with seven along with five assists while Guillroy had seven rebounds.

Graceland shot 50 percent both from the field and 3-point (6-of-12) in the 36-36 first half while the Blue Devils shot just 38.9 percent for the game and .216 from 3-point. However, the Blue Devils had a 53-37 rebound advantage and forced 31 turnovers while making 19.

With a home game against State Fair Saturday canceled by the pandemic, the Blue Devils are now idle until next Tuesday when they play host to Metropolitan in a doubleheader starting at 5:30 p.m.