Cox’s jumper gives CCCC 71-69 victory over Colby

Rori Cox knocked down a jump shot with 3.4 seconds on the clock to give the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds a 71-69 come-from-behind victory over the Colby Community College Trojans in the final game of the regular season Wednesday night in Bryant Gymnasium.
Trailing by as many as 15 points in the game, Cloud County was down 64-54 with just over five minutes to play.
The T-Birds would score 13 straight points to take a 67-64 lead.
Colby would respond and tie the game at 67-67 and then again at 69-69 on a basket by Oluwabukola Akinsola with 10 seconds to play.
Cloud County, following a timeout, put the ball in Cox’s hands, and she hit from 18 feet to make it a 71-69 game.
Colby then called a timeout with 3.4 seconds and advanced the ball across halfcourt.
Cox was able to knock the ball away as the Trojans attempted to get off a final shot, and time expired.
“That is not exactly what we drew up. I thought they (Colby) did a good job defensively of kind of taking away what we initially wanted. And Rori had to kind of break it off there. She hit a good shot,” Cloud County coach Brett Erkenbrack said. “I was proud of the fact that she took what they gave us and fortunately she hit. I am happy for her and for our team.”
Closing out the regular season with four consecutive wins, the T-Birds finished 15-15 overall and 11-3 in the Jayhawk Conference.
Cloud County, as the number 10 seed, will play at seventh-seeded Dodge City Community College (18-12) in the opening round of the Region VI Tournament at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.
The T-Birds split the regular season series with Dodge City with each team winning on their home floor.
“I think we should go into that game with confidence. Even though we lost down there, since that time we have won at Coffeyville, we won at Cowley, we have won four games in a row. We are playing better than we were the last time we went to Dodge City,” Erkenbrack said. “Dodge City is a good team. Whoever plays the best on Saturday will continue their season. And it is really that simple.”
Colby, 8-20 overall and 5-18 in the conference, led Cloud County by as many as 15 points in the first half.
The T-Birds would battle back to within four points, 49-45, in the third quarter only to have the Trojans extend the lead to 12 points, 60-48.
Colby led 64-54 when a pair of free throws by Cox started the Cloud County comeback.
Cox led all scorers with 24 points. She was 8 of 14 from the field and 8 of 10 from the free throw line.
The T-Birds applied full-court pressure and got a steal that led to a layup by Cox.
Cloud County got a defensive stop and Paula Puzule hit a three to made it a 64-61 game with 2:32 on the clock.
The T-Birds came up with another steal and Puzule knocked down another three-point shot to tie the game at 64-64.
Following yet another Cloud County steal, Puzule missed on a three but the T-Birds got the offensive rebound and Cox was fouled.
Cox made one of two free throws to give Cloud County its first lead, 65-64, since it was 7-6  early in the game.
Shakira Smith then got a steal and made a layup to give the T-Birds a 67-64 advantage.
Colby tied the game at 67-67 on a three-point play by Katelyn Alatini with 1:00 left.
Cox scored on a drive to put Cloud County back on top 69-67.
Akinsola would then score to tie it up at 69-69 and set up the game-winner by Cox.
“We found a way to win, and that is what I would be most proud of,” Erkenbrack said. “I wasn’t proud and I wasn’t very happy with what we did for the first 36 minutes of the game, but we battled hard the last four minutes and we won.”
Cox led four T-Birds in double figures.
Kennedy Becker was five of seven from the floor and four of six from the line in scoring 14 points and also grabbed nine rebounds.
Te Araroa Sopoaga scored 11 points and pulled down 10 rebounds.
Puzule also scored 11 points.
De’Jah Vigilante led Colby with 17 points.
Alatini scored 14 points. Zoe Wiltz finished with 12 points. McKenna Kirkpatrick scored 11 and Kiarra Henderson added 10 points to go with 16 rebounds.
Trailing 7-6 in the early going, Colby would limit Cloud County to four points over the final six minutes of the first quarter, and scored 16 to take a 22-11 lead.
The Trojans pushed the lead to 29-14 in the second quarter.
Cloud County would trim five points off of that deficit by halftime, and trailed 35-25.
The T-Bird would close the gap to just four points, 49-45, when Sopoaga scored with 43 seconds to play in the third quarter.
It was a 53-48 game in the final period when Colby scored seven straight points to open up a 60-48 advantage.
Cloud County trailed by 10 when it mounted its late-game charge.