CCCC upsets Hutch, 75-65

The Cloud County Community College women’s basketball team has played just two Jayhawk Conference games, and has 22 remaining, but picked up a significant win by knocking off the undefeated and fourth-ranked Hutchinson Community College Blue Dragons 75-65 Saturday afternoon in Bryant Gymnasium.
Cloud County, which never trailed in the game, got out to a 13-point lead in the first quarter and did not allow Hutchinson to mount a serious challenge on its way to a second consecutive conference win at home.
“It is a confidence builder, a momentum builder, for sure,” Cloud County coach Brett Erkenbrack said of the win. “I told the girls that not all of these games count the same. Some of these wins are worth a little bit more, and this is one of them. Obviously, we didn’t get a trophy or anything, and there is a long way to go, but Hutch will go some other places and beat some people on their home floor. It was a good win, and I was pleased with a lot of things we did to win it.”
Cloud County, now 6-1 overall and 2-0 in conference play, got out to an 8-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game.
Hutchinson, 7-1 overall and 1-1 in the Jayhawk, scored five straight points to close the gap to 8-7.
Giving up just a free throw over the final 5:38 of the first quarter, Cloud County would put  together a 13-1 run to grab a 21-8 lead heading into the second period.
The Thunderbirds hit 8 of 15 field goal attempts for 53 percent in the first 10 minutes and Hutchinson was just 2 of 16 for 13 percent.
Mya Williams knocked down a three-point shot for Hutchinson just 19 seconds into the second quarter to make it a 21-11 game.
Cloud County answered with a three by Te Araroa Sopoaga, and again led by 13 points.
The Blue Dragons closed the gap to 10 points, 26-16.
Two free throws by Alize Ruiz and a basket by Maimouna Sissoko put the T-Birds on top, 30-16.
Sissoko, a 6-2 freshman, led all scorers with 22 points and also pulled down 10 rebounds.
“We got a good all-around game from Maimouna Sissoko, especially offensively. She hit some tough shots, made some big baskets when we really needed,” Erkenbrack said. “She looked more aggressive offensively than she had previous times this year. I was real happy about that.”
Trailing 36-23, the Blue Dragons used an 8-3 spurt to get within eight points, 39-31.
A pair of free throws by Kayla Horton gave the T-Birds a 41-31 halftime lead.
Hutchinson got within eight points twice in the first two minutes of the second half.
Cloud County doubled up the Blue Dragons, 14-7, over a five minute stretch to take its biggest lead of the game, 57-42, when Ruiz connected on a three with 3:07 to play in the third period.
Ruiz scored 20 points and grabbed nine rebounds.
“Alize Ruiz had another really strong game, good production for us,” Erkenbrack said.
Scoring six straight points, the Blue Dragons made it a 57-48 game.
Cloud County took a 61-50 advantage into the final quarter.
It was a 63-52 game when Monae Duffy scored on consecutive possession to get Hutchinson within seven points, 63-56.
The T-Birds responded with eight straight points, five by Sissoko, to push the lead to 71-56 with just under five minutes to play.
“It looked like it was kind of teetering there and then that little burst that we had basically put the game away,” Erkenbrack said,
Hutchinson could get no closer than eight points after that Cloud County run.
Sopoaga finished with 15 points and seven assists for the T-Birds.
“I thought Te Sopoaga had a really good all-around game, defensively, offensively. I thought she played with quite a bit of composure and made some critical plays on both ends of the floor,” Erkenbrack said.
Cloud County shot 45 percent (27 of 60) from the field and 65 percent (17 of 26) from the free throw line.
The T-Birds had a 42-33 rebounding advantage.
“We have been a consistently good rebounding team this season, and I thought if we could win the battle on the boards, that was going to go a long way towards winning that game. We rebounded well, and I thought, for the most part, we defended really well,” Erkenbrack said.
Duffy led Hutchinson with 15 points and Journey Armstead added 14 points.
The T-Birds will play their first road conference game at Independence Community College on Tuesday night.
The Pirates are 5-3 overall and 1-1 in conference play.