T-Birds give Erkenbrack 700th win

Brett Erkenbrack continues to add to the impressive resume he has compiled during his 32-plus seasons as the head women’s basketball coach at Cloud County Community College.
Cloud County knocked off Coffeyville Community College 74-51 Wednesday night in Bryant Gymnasium to give Erkenbrack his 700th victory.
Erkenbrack, at 700-349, ranks sixth among active NJCAA women’s basketball coaches in wins.
“Seven hundred is another one of those things along the line that, when it is eventually all over and done with, I can look back and say ‘well that is kind of neat,'” Erkenbrack said.
Cloud County, returning to action for the first time since a home win over Dodge City Community College back on December 13, got out to a 15-point lead in the first quarter and never allowed Coffeyville to mount a charge in improving to 8-7 overall and 5-4 in Jayhawk Conference play.
“I am super proud of our team, how we played and how much better we have gotten here in the last month,” Erkenbrack said. “Really proud and appreciative and thankful for how those young ladies played.”
By defeating Coffeyville, the Thunderbirds have now posted consecutive wins over teams ahead of them in the conference standings.
“That is two big wins in a row against teams that were ahead of us in the conference. And the only way you can move up, obviously, is to beat teams that are ahead of you,” Erkenbrack said.
Coming off the win over Dodge City prior to the semester break, the T-Birds picked up where they left off.
“I think the mental approach has been good, and the fact that we played very well in our prior game against Dodge City back on the 13th of December, I was hopeful that we would carry that over and continue our good play, and we did,” Erkenbrack said.
With the game tied at 6-6 in the early going, Cloud County had Makayla Twyman knock down a pair of three-point shots during a 15-0 run that made it a 21-6 game.
Twyman, who was averaging 6.2 points per game going in, led the T-Birds with 19 points. She was 7 of 11 from the field, including five of nine from three-point range, and also had six rebounds and four assists.
“Makayla Twyman has really improved our team since she took over as the point guard that first week of December. She had a great game,” Erkenbrack said.
Coffeyville, now 11-4 overall and 5-4 in conference play, got a three-point play by Cheyenne Banks to halt a scoring drought of nearly five minutes and make it a 21-9 game.
Cloud County scored the final five points of the first period to open up a 26-9 advantage.
The two teams spent the first seven minutes of the second quarter exchanging baskets.
Cloud County was up 41-24 when Rori Cox scored with 3:10 remaining in the period.
The T-Birds would not score again in the half, and the Red Ravens tossed in five points to close the gap to 41-29.
Cloud County, leading 43-31 early in the second half, connected on four three-point shots in outscoring Coffeyville 22-10 over the final 8:31 to go up 65-41 heading into the final 10 minutes of the game.
The T-Birds led by as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter on their way to the win.
Cloud County’s five starters combined for 64 of the 74 points.
Kay Hauata Phillips was 8 of 13 from the field in scoring 16 points. She grabbed six rebounds.
Te Araroa Sopoaga finished with 10 points, four rebounds, six assists and four steals.
Paula Puzule also scored 10 points and had five assists and four steals.
Rori Cox added nine points, six rebounds, five assists and nine steals.
Kennedy Becker scored seven of Cloud County’s 10 bench points and had pulled down 11 rebounds.
The T-Birds, with 20 assists, hit 31 of 59 shots from the floor for 53 percent. They were 8 of 20 from three-point range.
Faith Simpson paced Coffeyville with 24 points. Paige Scott added 14 points.
The T-Birds will be on the road to play Garden City Community College on Saturday.