CCCC Women Fall To Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa

TONKAWA, Okla. — Outscored 52-34 in the second half, the Cloud County Community College women’s basketball team tumbled 83-67 to the Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa Mavericks Saturday night.
Cloud County, opening its season on the road, led Northern Oklahoma 33-31 at halftime.
The Mavericks then used the big second half to surge past the Thunderbirds.
“It was a disappointing start,” Cloud County coach Brett Erkenbrack said. “I felt like, and I still feel like we potentially have a pretty good team. I don’t want to think that our performance is indicative of what our team is and how we ultimately will play. If so, then it will be a long season for us.”
Trailing by two points at halftime, Northern Oklahoma opened the second half with a 13-3 run to go up 44-36.
Cloud County scored six straight points to close the gap to 44-42.
The Mavericks stretched the lead to 53-47 heading into the final quarter.
Northern Oklahoma (1-1) used a 13-2 spurt early in the fourth period to extend its lead to 66-49.
“We got demoralized in the second half, and got into a bunch of foul trouble, and it just kind of snowballed on us,” Erkenbrack said.
Cloud County was unable to get any closer than 13 points over the final eight minutes of the game.
“We got outworked, out-coached, outplayed. They hit open shots,” Erkenbrack said. “To their credit, they did what they needed to do to win a game at home. We didn’t do what we needed to do to win a game on the road. Number one being we didn’t defend anywhere near where we needed to. And we missed a bunch of free throws, especially in the first half, and then we really let down.”
Cloud County had three players score in double figures.
Bailey Burns, a freshman guard, led the way with 15 points and five rebounds.
Maimouna Sissoko, a sophomore forward, finished with 14 points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
Sophomore forward Braylee Dale added 13 points and seven rebounds.
Cloud County hit 26 of 70 field goal attempts for 37 percent and 11 of 21 free throws for 52 percent.
The T-Birds were just 4 of 20 from three-point range for 20 percent.
Brooke Robertson led Northern Oklahoma with 18 points.
Landri Hussey and Allison Green scored 11 points each for the Mavericks.
Cloud County will play at home for the first time against the Concordia University junior varsity at 6 p.m. Wednesday.