Thunderbirds sink Pirates, 79-73

Five players scored in double figures as the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds completed the regular season sweep of the Independence Community College Pirates with a 79-73 Jayhawk Conference victory Wednesday night in Bryant Gymnasium.
Maimouna Sissoko came off the bench to pace the balanced Cloud County attack with 16 points. She also grabbed a team-high 13 rebounds.
Alize Ruiz scored 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds for the T-Birds.
Josephine Igherighe tossed in 14 points.
Jessi Brummett hit six of eight field goal attempts in scoring 12 points and Te Araroa Sopoaga added 10 points, five rebounds and four assists.
“It was really good to see Mai (Sissoko) bounce back and have a good game. She was productive. I thought Jessi Brummett had a nice game for us. Josie (Igherighe) had a nice game, just from a standpoint of being aggressive offensively,” Cloud County coach Brett Erkenbrack said.
Cloud County halted a two-game losing skid with the win and is now 13-8 overall and 8-7 in conference play.
The T-Birds and the Pirates went back and forth throughout the game.
Cloud County, trailing 3-0 early, put together a 12-2 run to go up 12-5.
Brummett scored six of her points during that stretch.
The T-Birds would extend the lead to nine points, 19-10.
Independence, getting a three-point play and a three-point basket by Valentina Ojeda, and a three-point basket by Serenity Echols, outscored Cloud County 9-2 over the final 2:02 of the first quarter to close the gap to 21-19.
The Pirates, 9-11 overall and 5-9 in the conference, got four points by Ojeda in the opening 42 seconds of the second period to reclaim the lead at 23-21.
Ojeda poured in 29 points for Independence. She also had 10 rebounds.
“She (Ojeda) is a good player,” Erkenbrack said.
A 13-4 spurt gave Cloud County the lead back at 34-27.
Independence answered with a 12-4 surge to go back on top, 39-38.
A basket by Ruiz in the final seconds of the first half gave the T-Birds a 40-39 advantage.
The Pirates knocked down three threes on their way to building a 56-50 advantage midway through the third quarter.
Two free throws by Igherighe and baskets by Ruiz and Sissoko pulled Cloud County even at 56-56.
D'yanna Maxey completed a three-point play, and Independence led 59-56.
Sissoko scored inside and Ruiz made two free throws to put the T-Birds back up 60-59 heading into the final 10 minutes of play.
The two teams exchanged the lead four times in the first 2:16 of the fourth quarter.
Trailing 65-64, the T-Birds got a three-point play by Ruiz and a bucket by Lilly Smith to go on top to stay, 69-65.
Two free throws by Blesseth Dillingham pulled Independence within two points, 69-67.
Cloud County outscored the Pirates 7-1 over the next four minutes to go on top, 76-68.
Independence closed the gap to 76-72 with baskets by Maxey and JaMya Robinson with just over two minutes to play.
Sissoko scored to make it 78-72, and the T-Birds were able to hang on for the win.
“Independence is a talented team. That is a quality team, and that was pretty much a must win situation for us so I was very happy we found a way to win,” Erkenbrack said. “We made some winning plays. Some of these games we have lost recently we just haven't made enough winning type plays, getting the big rebound, getting the big stop, getting the loose ball.”
Cloud County turned 14 offensive rebounds into 23 points and scored 18 points off of 16 Independence turnovers.
Maxey joined Ojeda in double figures for the Pirates with 12 points.
The T-Birds have a week off before a road game against Seward County Community College next Wednesday.