Pirates knock off T-Birds, 87-67

An Independence Community College team riding a six-game winning streak coming in handed the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team a second consecutive Jayhawk Conference home loss, 87-67, Tuesday night in Bryant Gymnasium.
Cloud County opened conference play with a road win at Northwest Kansas Technical College.
The Thunderbirds have fallen 89-74 to Hutchinson Community College and then Independence Community College, and is now 4-4 overall.
Independence lost its first game of the season, 83-80, to Eastern Oklahoma State College and has now rattled off seven consecutive wins to stand at 7-1 overall and 3-0 in the Jayhawk Conference.
The Pirates have won their three conference games by an average of 20 points.
“Give Independence credit. I think Independence is a good team but, overall, I was really disappointed in our effort and our competitive spirit. I didn't feel like we played near hard enough to be able to win,” Cloud County coach Brett Erkenbrack said.
A basket by Kay Hauata Phillips and a three-point shot by Te Araroa Sopoaga gave Cloud County a quick 5-0 lead in the game.
Independence scored the next seven points to go up 8-7.
Rori Cox made one of two free throws and Kennedy Becker followed up a missed shot to give the Thunderbirds an 8-7 advantage.
The Pirates then used an 8-2 spurt to go on top to stay, 15-10.
Three points by Jessi Brummett got Cloud County within two points, 15-13.
Na'Khia Attaway made a layup as time ran out in the first quarter to give Independence a 17-13 cushion.
Cloud County would go the final 1:14 of the first period and the first 5:31 of the second period without a field goal.
The T-Birds also missed seven of 10 free throws during the stretch.
Independence opened the second quarter with a 15-2 run, and led 32-15 when Becker got an offensive rebound and scored with 4:29 remaining before half to make it 32-17.
“We missed a number of layups and we had quite a number of turnovers in there also. So a whole bunch of self-inflicted wounds and got ourselves in really a deep hole and didn't fight terribly hard to get out of,” Erkenbrack said.
Scoring seven straight points, the Pirates were up 39-17.
Cox scored the final three points of the first half, but Cloud County trailed 39-20.
The T-Birds hit just 2 of 15 field goal attempts in that second quarter and 3 of 10 free throws.
Cloud County got as close as 15 points, 48-33, in the third quarter when Olivia Collier-Tuipulotu scored on consecutive possession.
“I thought the second half we came out with some energy again. Started the second half pretty good but we didn't sustain it,” Erkenbrack said.
A three by Maisa Marcal started a quick 10 point run that pushed the Pirates' lead to 58-33.
Independence led 64-41 heading into the fourth quarter.
Cloud County got no closer than 19 points over the final 10 minutes.
Hauata Phillips led Cloud County with 17 points and 12 rebounds.
Sopoaga scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebonds for the T-Birds.
Becker finished with eight points and 13 rebounds.
The T-Birds were 23 of 67 from the field for 34 percent. They made just 2 of 14 three-point attempts and 19 of 31 free throws.
Miriam Bazylewicz came off the bench to lead Independence with 18 points and 11 rebounds.
Marcal scored 17 points and Delani Harris added 13.
Cloud County plays its last non-conference game of the season when it hosts Northeast (Neb.) Community College at 2 p.m. Saturday.