Alan Hoskins
Monday, December 01, 2008
College Advancement
Kansas City Kansas Community College basketball teams gave two of the top-ranked teams in the nation scares over the weekend but both came up with the same results, 10-point setbacks.
Des Moines Area Community College, the No. 1 ranked women’s team in Division II, needed a big finish to escape the Lady Blue Devils 65-55in Des Moines Friday while a second half outburst enabled No. 2 ranked Penn Valley’s men to pull away for a 73-63 win at Penn Valley Saturday.
It was not an entire lost weekend however, as the Lady Blue Devils rebounded with a 71-50 thumping of AIB Saturday in the final round of the DMACC Classic.
Kelsey Stanbrough, a freshman from Bonner Springs, scored a career high 16 points including 4 of 9 three-pointers, to lead the KCKCC women past AIB. Cameron Roland, who was 7 for 11 from the field, added 14 points and Kelley Stauch a season high 10 to push KCKCC’s record to 4-3. Roland also had nine rebounds, Alexa McGrory eight, Stauch seven and Taryn Lane six while Ashleigh Gallio dished out nine assists.
Down 32-23 at halftime, the Lady Blue Devils led DMACC by two with 9:17 to go only to have the hosts take advantage of a pair of turnovers to go four points in front and pull away. McGrory led KCKCC with 17 points and nine rebounds while Roland added 11 and Jessi Hilliard 8. The Blue Devils actually had four more field goals but were zero for 15 from 3-point and sent DMACC to the free throw line for 25 of 35 free throws. “We just didn’t play well, too many turnovers and we sent them to the foul line way too much,” said Coach Valerie Stambersky, whose Lady Blue Devils return to action Tuesday with a 6 p.m. home game against Ottawa’s JV.
The KCKCC men (4-3) were just five back at Penn Valley Saturday only to have the Scouts take advantage of six turnovers in eight KCKCC possessions for a 13-3 run that put the game out of reach. “We just made too many turnovers,” said Coach Jon Oler, who was playing without his two leading scorers, Travis Fairley and Chris Combs.
Jack Shortell, a 6-7 sophomore from Bishop Miege, had the biggest night of his career for KCKCC, scoring 20 points on 8 of 10 shots and adding 10 rebounds, both game highs. “Shortell had the game of his life,” said Oler. Derrick Denny added 19 points including five 3-pointers while Cortez Carter had nine and Scott Fruehling eight.
The Blue Devils will get a chance to get even next Tuesday when they host Penn Valley at 8 p.m. KCKCC is expected to have Fairley back for the re-match but Combs underwent surgery Monday and is out indefinitely. Tuesday’s games are the final home games until Jayhawk Conference play gets underway in January.