By JOCELYN SHEETS
Register Sports Editor
Allen County Community College women’s basketball head coach Andy Hamilton is at a loss for words. He cannot figure out what happens to his team after halftimes.
“For the third straight game, we’ve played a great first half then … I don’t know what happens,” Hamilton said after the Red Devil women lost 62-44 to visiting Cowley County Community College’s Lady Tigers Wednesday night.
“We played a great first half tonight. We were aggressive and attacked the basket. We were matching them point-for-point,” Hamilton said. “If games ended at halftime, we’d be fine.”
Unfortunately, games have two halves. Allen County forged a 29-29 tie with second-place Cowley County by intermission. The Red Devils struggled to put 15 points on the board in the second half as the Lady Tigers pushed ahead with 44 points.
“At halftime, we talked about if we had a lull in shooting from the outside what were they (the ACCC players) going to do?” Hamilton said. “They told me, ‘We’ll keep driving and being aggressive.’ Obviously, we didn’t do that.”
Allen County is mired in a six-game losing streak. The Red Devils are 1-9 in Jayhawk Eastern Division play and 7-15 overall. Since the Christmas break, the Red Devils are 1-9.
The Red Devils travel to Fort Scott Saturday. Fort Scott lost 72-51 to Coffeyville Wednesday to drop to 3-7 and 11-11.
“We’re getting better, I think. We just have to figure out how to come out better in the second half and score points. We could not hit the broad side of a barn tonight in the second half,” Hamilton said.
“Defensively, we’re fine. Holding Cowley County to 62 points, I’ll take that every night but only 44 points for us. We have to sustain our offense.”
Allen County battled back from a 9-2 deficit. Kynesha Nisbett came up with a turnover as Allen County used a trapping press and scored.
Down 11-4, Breanna Shaw hit back-to-back threes and Maurisa Shaffer hit a floater in the lane. The Red Devils led at that point 12-11.
Every time the Lady Tigers pushed out a little, the Red Devils pushed back. Danielle Best came off the bench to hit a trey. Also coming off the bench was Nicole Rockhold and Jennifer House. Rockhold stole the ball and made the pass up court to House for the basket.
Best nailed a three with 6:28 left to tie the game at 22-22. Cowley County rattled off five straight points but the Red Devils countered with a seven-point run to lead 29-27 with 42 seconds left.
Cowley County’s Jasamyne Saunders sank two free throws with 5.7 seconds left to knot the score at 29-29 for halftime.
The Lady Tigers rolled to a 49-36 lead by the midway mark. They hit four threes in that span.
Allen County had no response to the Lady Tigers in the second half.
The Red Devils were 16 of 48, 33 percent, from the field and downed 6 of 12 free throws. Cowley County shot 41 percent, 24 of 58, from the field and 8 of 14 from the free-throw line.
Shaw was the lone Red Devil in double figures with 13 points. Dysyan Malone had eight rebounds, three steals and three assists. Jazmynn Johnson controlled seven rebounds.
Cowley County was led by Ariani Silva with 19 points and Gianna Woods with 18 points. Kanesha Lee added 13 points. The Lady Tigers had a 42 to 32 rebounding edge.
Allen County (29-15—44) (FG/3-pt): Shaw 3/2-1-1-13, Shaffer 1-3-3-5, Malone 0/1-0-3-3, Best 0/2-0-2-6, Rockhold 0/1-2-1-5, House 2-0-3-4, Nisbett 3-0-0-6, Johnson 1-0-1-2. TOTALS: 10/6-6-14-44.
Cowley County (29-33—62) (FG/3-pt): Saunders 0-2-3-2, Silva 2/4-3-1-19, Vieyra 1-0-2-2, Lee 6-1-1-13, Johnson 1-0-1-2, Sonka 0/2-0-3-6, Woods 8-2-2-18. TOTALS: 18/6-8-13-62.
Lady Tigers rip Red Devil women
