Mavericks edge CCCC 80-79 in opener

TONKAWA, Okla. — Unable to convert on a pair of opportunities in the closing seconds, the Cloud County Community College women’s basketball team suffered an 80-79 loss to Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa in its season opener Tuesday night.
Leading 79-77 with 11.7 seconds on the clock, Cloud County had a chance to secure a win but Makayla Twyman missed a pair of free throw attempts that would have made a four-point game.
There was a jump ball on the rebound, and the possession went to Northern Oklahoma.
The Mavericks were able to capitalize on the opportunity when Shelby Rayner dribbled down the court and pulled up and hit a three-point shot that made it an 80-79 game with 2.6 seconds remaining.
Cloud County called a timeout and advanced the ball.
The T-Birds were able to get the ball to Te Araroa Sopoaga under the basket, but she was unable to get a shot off and time expired.
“It is a hard way to start the season. Those losses at the last second are always difficult, but in my mind, it shouldn’t have come down to that,” Cloud County coach Brett Erkenbrack said. “We made some silly turnovers, unforced turnovers in the halfcourt that I can’t say are uncharacteristic. It is the first game of the year. We are trying to find ourself, as is everybody else.”
Trailing 11-10 in the first quarter, Cloud County put together a 19-6 run to go up 29-17.
The T-Birds led 29-19 heading into the second quarter.
Northern Oklahoma would get as close as four points, 44-40, in the second quarter.
A three-point play by Kennedy Becker gave Cloud County a 47-40 halftime advantage.
The T-Birds were leading 57-49 in the third period when the Mavericks used a 16-7 spurt to go up 65-64 on a layup by Rayner.
A jumper by Twyman gave the T-Birds the lead back at 66-65 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
There were just four points scored in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter, two by each team, and it was a 68-67 Cloud County lead.
Two free throws by Jordan Holman gave Northern Oklahoma the lead back at 69-68.
The T-Birds answered with a three-point shot by Twyman and led 71-69.
A three-point play by Holman and a three-point shot by Lexie Boyer put the Mavericks back on top 75-71 with 3:10 on the clock.
Twyman and and Paula Puzule connected on consecutive threes to give Cloud County a 77-75 advantage with 1:02 remaining in the game.
Northern Oklahoma tied the game 77-77 on a jumper by Rayner with 54 seconds left.
Twyman drove to the basket and scored to put the T-Birds up 79-77 16 seconds later.
Cloud County forced a jump ball and got the ball back in the alternating possession with 27 seconds to play.
The Mavericks had just two team fouls, and had to foul three times to send Twyman to the free throw line with 11.7 seconds left. She missed both attempts and Northern Oklahoma got the ball.
Rayner would then knock down what proved to be the winning three-point shot.
“It was a difficult game. It is not an ideal situation to go down there and play the first game of the year on the road at Northern,” Erkenbrack said. “We came close to playing well enough to win, but we didn’t. The reasons that we didn’t win were we didn’t defend very well, we didn’t rebound very well and we had too many mental mistakes with the basketball that cost us the game.”
Sopoaga, a 5-9 freshman guard from New Zealand, led four Cloud County players in double figures with 20 points. She also had 11 rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Twyman, a 5-7 freshman from Poteau, Okla., scored 15 points. She was six of nine from the field and three of four from the free throw line.
Becker, one of two returnees for the T-Birds, finished with 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Puzule, a 5-6 freshman from London, England, added 11 points.
Rayner paced Northern Oklahoma with 23 points. Holman scored 21 points.
Cloud County hosts Highland Community College at 6 p.m. Friday.