by Alan Hoskins
Kansas City Kansas Community College’s No. 20 ranked Lady Blue Devils passed their biggest test of the season to date Saturday, defeating North Arkansas 86-41 at Harrison.
The win was the fifth in a row for the unbeaten Blue Devils, who are host this weekend to the annual Keith Lindsey Classic. The Blue Devils play Coffeyville Friday at 6 p.m. and Allen County at 8 p.m. In men’s action, KCKCC plays Link Year Prep Friday at 8 p.m. and St. Louis Community College Saturday at 6 p.m.
“I was very pleased how hard our ladies played and competed,” said KCKCC coach Joe McKinstry. “North Ark has a good team; they played in the national tournament last year. They have some big girls so we were very out-sized but out-rebounded them by 16 and had 18 rebounds off the offensive boards.”
McKinstry was particularly pleased with the Blue Devil balance, both in scoring and rebounding. Seven Blue Devils had eight or more points and three had seven or more rebounds. The Blue Devils also got 28 points off the bench as Valencia Scott had 11 points, Destiny Vincent 9 and Briana Tauai 8, all career highs.
“Between the three of them, they were 11 of 18 from the floor which really helped,” McKinstry said.
Sophomores led the scoring as Erin Anderson had 16 points, Cheyenne North 15 and Sierra Roberts 13 while freshman Brooklyn Wagler led in rebounding with 10 and scored nine points. Anderson and North also had seven rebounds each as KCKCC dominated the rebounding 37-21. Anderson also led the way with six of KCKCC”s 15 steals.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.