Cloud County drops Colby, 76-49

The Cloud County Community College women’s basketball team wrapped up its first tour of the Jayhawk Conference with a 76-49 victory over the Colby Community College Trojans Saturday afternoon in Bryant Gymnasium.
With the win, the Thunderbirds improve to 12-6 and 7-5 in conference play.
Cloud County is tied with Seward County for sixth place in the Jayhawk Conference, one game behind Hutchinson Community College and Coffeyville Community College, which are both 8-4.
Dodge City Community College sits atop the conference standings at 11-1. Barton Community College and Butler Community College are tied for second at 9-3.
“We have had some really good wins, a couple of real disappointing losses. I don’t want to say I am satisfied with where we are, but where we are is what we have created for ourselves,” Cloud County coach Brett Erkenbrack said. “We are not in a bad position at all. We are in the race. We are legitimately in the race for a top four finish. A couple of keys for us are stay healthy, number one, and progressing, getting better.”
Cloud County begins its second trip through the conference schedule with a game at Northwest Kansas Technical College in Goodland on Wednesday night.
Northwest Tech, with six straight losses, is 5-12 overall and 1-11 in conference play.
Cloud County got out to a 7-1 lead on Colby in the opening 3:04.
The T-Birds would then manage just one field goal and three free throws over the final 6:56 of the first quarter.
Colby, which has lost 16 straight games to fall to 1-16 overall and 0-12 in the conference, used a 12-5 run to go up 13-12 heading into the second period.
“Colby, to me, doesn’t look like a team that has lost 16 games in a row. They have some talent and I think they have two or three pretty good players,” Erkenbrack said. “They presented us with some challenges. They have a little size and some athletic ability.”
Tereia Steward hit a three-point shot to give Cloud County the lead back at 15-13.
Steward was three of six from three-point range in scoring 13 points off the bench for the T-Birds.
Colby tied the game at 15-15 on a basket by Peyton Pickney.
Scoring eight points in just 1:21, the T-Birds went on top to stay, 23-15.
Cloud County, leading 26-20, got a three-point play by Alize Ruiz and four straight points by Maimouna Sissoko to go up 33-20.
The T-Birds went scoreless over the final 3:15 of the first half, and Colby scored six points to close the gap to 33-26.
Baskets by Sissoko and Josephine Igherighe and consecutive threes by Kayla Horton pushed Cloud County’s lead to 43-26.
Colby went the first 4:01 of the second half without scoring before Jayla Sample made two free throws.
It was a 45-29 game when Horton tossed in five straight points to start an 11-3 run that gave the T-Birds a 56-32 cushion.
The Trojans scored the final four points of the third quarter, but still trailed 56-36.
Cloud County extended the lead to 25 points early in the final period and cruised to the win.
“In the first half I don’t think we played very well at all and in the second half we played pretty good,” Erkenbrack said.
Ruiz scored 19 points and pulled down 13 rebounds for the T-Birds.
Horton and Sissoko matched Steward with 13 points each.
“We got some good production from Kayla Horton. We got a productive game from Alize,” Erkenbrack said. “You have got to win the game you are scheduled to play on that day, and we got that done and seemingly, didn’t get anybody hurt.”
Sample and Pickney scored 18 points each for Colby.