Seward County pulls away to 82-59 win over T-Birds

A Jasmina Jones jump shot 1:20 into the second quarter gave the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds a 24-21 lead on 17th-ranked Seward County Community College.
Starting with a 16-4 spurt over the next five-plus minutes, Seward County would outscore Cloud County 61-35 the rest of the way to post an 82-59 Jayhawk Conference victory Saturday night in Bryant Gymnasium.
The T-Birds had opened conference play with a road win over Garden City Community College on Wednesday night, and led Seward County 22-21 after one quarter of play.
The jumper by Jones with 8:40 remaining in the second period made it a 24-21 game.
Cloud County, now 6-5 overall and 1-1 in conference play, would struggle to score the basketball the rest of the way.
The T-Birds, after knocking down 10 of their first 22 field goal attempts, went just 13 of 46 and committed 17 of their 21 turnovers.
There would be five lead changes in the first six minutes of the game.
Cloud County went up 16-11 when Haven Hamilton made one of two free throws with 3:42 to play in the first quarter.
Karolina Szydlowska scored for the Saints to close the gap to 16-13.
Baskets by Kelsie Kelly and Isabella Vazquez gave Cloud County its largest lead at 20-13.
Seward County, 7-2 overall and 2-0 in the conference, would battle back to within a point, 22-21, when Szydlowska made two free throws with two seconds remaining in the period.
Jones then scored early in the second stanza to put Cloud County up 24-21.
A three-point basket by Aquila Mucubaquire and a jumper by Tianna Johnson put the Saints on top to stay, 26-24.
Seward County would push the lead to 30-24.
Two free throws by Vazquez and a bucket by Kelly pulled Cloud County back within two points, 30-28.
The T-Birds would fall behind by as many as seven points, and then pulled back to within four at 39-35 on a basket by LaKya Leslie with 1:00 left in the first half.
Ayanna Smith scored to give Seward County a 41-35 halftime lead.
Cloud County trailed by just six points, 44-38, with just over two minutes gone by in the second half.
The Saints would pour in 20 points over the final 7:44 of the third quarter, to just six for the T-Birds, and had a commanding 64-44 lead.
Cloud County hit just 4 of 15 field goal attempts in scoring nine points in the period.
A basket by Leslie and a three-point shot by Jones in the first 1:34 of the fourth quarter got the T-Birds within 16 points, 64-49.
Seward County scored the next six points to go on top 70-49.
Cloud County would get no closer than 17 points the rest of the way.
Leslie led the T-Birds with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Vazquez and Jacy Dalinghaus scored 10 points each.
Cloud County finished 23 of 68 from the field for 34 percent and 10 of 16 from the free throw line for 63 percent.
The T-Birds were out-rebounded by the Saints, 59-37.
Mucubaquire led five Seward County players in double figures with 16 points.
Szydlowska scored 14. Smith finished with 12. Alanis Hill scored 11 and Vanda Cuamba added 10.
Cloud County will play its final game prior to semester break when it hosts Colby Community College (8-1) on Wednesday night.