by Alan Hoskins, KCKCC
Kansas City Kansas Community College wrote a new chapter into scoring balance in an 83-44 win Sunday over Ellsworth Community College of Iowa Falls, Iowa.
In scoring 83 points, the Lady Blue Devils had just one player score in double figures. Reserve guard Tee Martin, who took only four shots and made all of them including a pair of 3-pointers, led the way with 12 points. Four others had nine points and eight Blue Devils in all had at least two field goals and six points.
The Blue Devils improved to 9-1 with the win heading into a road contest with Washburn junior varsity in Topeka Monday at 5 p.m. followed by a big home showdown Friday against North Arkansas, the only team to defeat KCKCC (78-75) this season. The tipoff is 5 p.m. with a men’s game to follow at 7 p.m.
The win over Ellsworth was highlighted by spectacular 3-point shooting the final two quarters. Just 3-of-13 the first half, the Blue Devils were a torrid 10-of-13 the second half and finished with six in a row without a miss for 76.9 percent accuracy. Equally impressive, 10 of the 13 treys came from the bench. Randi Johnson, fresh from a season with the KCKCC volleyball team, and Ally Lollis each had three 3-pointers to go along with Martin’s two and one each by Camryn Swanson and Ashley Daniels.
Starters Caitlyn Stewart and Kisi Young each had nine points as did Lollis and Daniels while Nija Collier added eight points, Lillie Moore seven and Miya Ford six on a pair of treys. The Blue Devils also doubled up in rebounding 46-23 with Collier grabbing nine, Moore seven and Lizzie Stark six. Alix Wilson and Stewart led in assists with four each.
“Very happy to get a win after just two days of practice following five days off for the holiday,” KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry said. “I’m especially happy with our shooting performance and our rebounding margin. We were just 3-of-13 from three at halftime but I told the girls to stay ready and knock them down when the opportunity came.
“This group is very talented across the board and we have a lot of players who are capable of impacting the game in many ways. If we can clean up the turnovers (27) and stay disciplined on defense, I feel like we have a great chance to compete in our very tough conference,” he said.