Dodge City downs T-Birds, 70-62

DODGE CITY — Coming off a Jayhawk Conference road loss to the Dodge City Community College Conquistadors back on February 12, the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds posted four consecutive wins to close out the regular season.
That winning streak and the T-Birds’ season ended with a 70-62 defeat to Dodge City in the opening round of the Region VI Tournament Saturday night.
Cloud County fell behind Dodge City by 20 points in the second half, battled back to within seven points with over seven minutes to play, but couldn’t chase down the Conquistadors.
The T-Birds finished up the season 15-16.
“I was proud of the fact that we battled through the adversity of losing Makayla (Twyman). That hurt, losing our point guard. I thought we were playing well and then she got hurt, and then she got sick and then she was done,” Cloud County coach Brett Erkenbrack said. “We were a pretty young team, a pretty inexperienced team all year. I think we really got better toward the end. Winning those four regular season games, I was happy about that. I don’t think we would characterize it as a particularly good season but we had some good wins and we did some good things.”
Dodge City (19-12) advances to the tournament quarterfinals and will play at second-seeded Hutchinson Community College (25-5) on Tuesday.
In the other first-round games, Butler Community College defeated Garden City Community College 49-40, Cowley College downed Pratt Community College 63-54 and Colby Community College upset Coffeyville Community College, 73-55.
Dodge City jumped out to a quick 8-2 lead in the game.
Trailing 10-4, the T-Birds used an 11-4 run to grab its first lead at 15-14 when Te Araroa Sopoaga scored on a drive with 1:39 to play in the first quarter.
A basket by Teona Pop Stojanova put Dodge City back on top, 16-15.
Cloud County got a follow by Kay Hauata Phillips and two free throws by Rori Cox to reclaim the lead at 19-16.
Back-to-back threes by Krystina Hagood and Jenna Rose Mafua put the Conquistadors on top to stay, 22-19.
Phillips made one of two free throws for Cloud County, and it was a 22-20 game.
The T-Birds would score only two points over the final 4:38 of the first half.
Mafua and Hagood connected on threes to stretch the lead to 28-20.
Hagood was 6 of 12 from thee-point range and scored 27 points in the game. She also had eight rebounds.
Dodge City took a 30-22 lead into halftime.
With Paula Puzule connecting on a pair of threes, the T-Birds would trim the deficit to three points, 35-32, with just over six minutes to play in the third quarter.
A three-point basket by Jada Burton and a three-point play by Mafua gave Dodge City a 41-32 cushion.
Miaya Ware scored off an offensive rebound, and Cloud County trailed 41-34.
Starting with a three by Hagood and ending with a three by Hagood, the Conquistadors went on a 13-0 spurt in just over two minutes to pull away to a 54-34 lead.
“We got into some foul trouble, certainly which has been one of our problems all year long. And we had about three defensive breakdowns in a row which led to three open threes for them,” Erkenbrack said.
Cloud County scored the final three points of the third period and the first two of the fourth to make it 54-39.
After Georgia Gray made two free throws for Dodge City, the T-Birds scored 10 points in less than two minutes to get within seven points, 56-49, when Sopoaga scored on a drive with 7:10 remaining in the game.
“We played hard in the fourth quarter,” Erkenbrack said. “We couldn’t put together enough offense to give ourselves a chance.”
Baskets by Hagood and Burton upped the Dodge City lead to 60-49.
Cloud County could get no closer than the final margin of eight points over the final six minutes.
“I thought we battled. I thought T (Sopoaga) really played hard. Paula and Shakira Smith gave us good effort,” Erkenbrack said.
Cox, who hit 9 of 10 free throws, led four T-Birds in double figures with 13 points. She also had seven rebounds.
Sopoaga, Puzule and Phillips scored 12 points each.
The T-Birds hit just 21 of 68 field goal attempts for 31 percent and were 4 of 20 from three-point range.
Bree Stephens scored 13 points for Dodge City. Mafua finished with 11 and Burton added 10.
The Conquistadors were 24 of 53 from the floor for 45 percent.