Cloud County Sports
David Wilson, Sports Information Director
CONCORDIA — The Cloud County Community College women’s basketball team pulled even with Cowley College for fifth place in the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference standings on Wednesday with a wire-to-wire 86-75 victory over the visiting Tigers.
Cloud County (19-8 overall, 16-8 KJCCC) a dangerous Cowley team (20-8 overall, 16-8 KJCCC), which entered with the most made 3-pointers in the conference, to just 39 percent shooting for the game, including a dismal 7-of-27 (26 percent) mark from the 3-point line.
It was a stark contrast from the 15-of-31 (48 percent) the Tigers shot back on Jan.7 in what was an 86-76 win for Cowley in the first meeting between the two teams
The T-Birds methodically built a 37-25 lead at the half behind sophomore Erin Alexander. The forward had a double-double through the first 20 minutes with 11 points and 12 rebounds. She’d finish the night with 15 points and 16 rebounds.
In the second half, sophomore guards Kaley Broeckelman and Chelcie Kizart took over the scoring load as the T-Birds exploited the Cowley full-court press.
Kizart scored 18 of her game-high 22 points in the second half, while Broeckelman and sophomore forward Shannon Owens each poured in 18 points.
Freshman guard Kelsi Mueller rounded out what was a fantastic night for the Cloud County starting five as she finished with six points, a team-high seven assists and five rebounds.
One area Cloud County did struggle Wednesday was at the free-throw line as it went 16-for-28 (57 percent), which left the door open for the Tigers to make a late surge.
Cowley trailed by as many as 18 points with 6:09 remaining. But behind 19 second-half point from Amy O’Neil, the Tigers clawed back within seven with 1:28 remaining before the T-Birds stomped out the comeback attempt.
With two games remaining before the Region VI Tournament, Cloud County could mathematically move up into a tie for third place in the standings. The T-Birds, who have now won five out of their last six games, will look to continue to climb the KJCCC ladder when they travel to take Allen County (8-20 overall, 7-17 KJCCC) at 2 p.m. on Saturday.