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FSCC women surrender 13-point lead
The Fort Scott Community College women's basketball team turned a 180 at Arnold Arena Saturday afternoon.
In most of their conference losses, they've played a poor first half and a good second half but lost because the hole they dug was too deep to rally from.
Saturday, the exact opposite happened. Fort Scott rolled out to a 13-point halftime lead. Then they watched Allen County score the first 10 points of the second half in just under two minutes, which sparked the Red Devils to a comeback that culminated in an 80-76 defeat for the Greyhounds.
Allen County (2-9 division, 8-15 overall) came into the game in last place in the Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division.
"Losing to Allen County hurts us in the (Region VI) standings," Fort Scott head coach Diana Couch said. "That was a game we had to win. When you start the second half with a turnover, they go on a 10-0 run, and we don't fight back from that, what can you do?"
Although Fort Scott (3-8, 11-12) has three division victories, the only tie-breaker they hold for Region VI Tournament seeding at the moment is over Kansas City Kansas with a game to be played against the Blue Devils in Kansas City on February 27, the last game of the regular season. They've split the season series with Neosho County and Allen County and have been swept in the other season series that has been completed (Coffeyville). Games against Johnson County and Highland don't count toward tournament seeding because those teams play post-season in Division II.
This means that in order to have any tie-breakers go in their favor at the end of the season, the Greyhounds are going to need to beat any one of Independence, Cowley or Labette. Those are three of the top four teams in Division I (The other being Coffeyville). The 'Hounds have lost to each of those teams by an average of 16 points. They play at Independence at 6 p.m. Wednesday night.
The offensive numbers from Saturday's game are what Couch would like to see in every game. The 'Hounds made 11 of 33 3-point shots and doing that is the same as making half of a team's 2-point shots. They were rebounding well and forcing a lot of turnovers in the first half. They were passing the ball well, as noted by 9 first-half assists on 16 field-goals.
So when the Greyhounds gave themselves a bit of breathing room in the first half with a 12-5 run that gave them a 26-28 lead with 8:24 to go, it looked as though their first-half demons might be exorcised.
They led 44-31 at halftime. Kasey Teich, whom Couch had wanted to see shoot more, had two 3-point goals 8 points in the first half. Shadara Hampton had two 3-pointers and 10 points. Valencia Kelly had appeared to break out of her shooting slump as she made her first 3-point goal in nearly three weeks. Brittany Demery had 12 points at the half.
But here was a sign of trouble: Even though Allen County was 13 points behind, the Red Devils made 52 percent of their field-goal tries in the first half.
So when Allen County scored the first 10 points of the second half -- with Kyneshia Nesbitt converting consecutive "old-fashioned" 3-point plays along the way -- they found themselves back within 3 points just 1:50 into the half.
Kelly and Kendra Mattox hit back-to-back 3-point shots but Allen County's confidence had been boosted and the Devils continued to rally. They got back within 1 when Nicole Rockhold's stickback of a teammate's miss cut the deficit to 67-66 with 5:22 to go.
Rockhold made two free throws moments later to give Allen County its first lead since the five-minute mark of the first half. Kelly made consecutive baskets for the 'Hounds to make it 71-68 with 3:27 to go.
But the 'Hounds could not pull away, scoring only 5 points the rest of the way. Teich gave them the lead for the last time with one minute to go, 76-74, on a 3-pointer from the left wing.
Dysyan Malone tied it with two free throws with 41 seconds to go. Breanna Shaw put the Devils ahead on a layup with 17.2 seconds to go.
The 'Hounds came back the other way but Mattox missed a 3-point shot. Jazmynn Johnson rebounded and got the ball to Malone, who was fouled with six seconds left. She made both free throws to provide the final margin.
"I almost like it better when we're down in the first half instead of up because then we take it easy," Couch said. "(Allen) did exactly to us what we've been doing to everybody else. But 49 points in the second half is amazing and you have to give Allen County credit."
Two players who not a factor when the 'Hounds beat Allen County in Iola in January combined to score 40 points Saturday. Johnson, who didn't even play in the first game, made 10 of 13 shots from the field in the paint and finished with 21 points. Malone, who had only 7 points in the first meeting, followed with 19. Shaw ended up with 15 points for Allen County.
"Defensively, we did nothing that we were supposed to do," Couch said. "The last time we played, we contained (Shaw and Malone). And then (Johnson), our post didn't want to defend her. Like I told the team, 'There's nothing I can do when I can't coach you. Those are things I can't coach.' We made all the adjustments offensively and they went well. Defensively, the team just quit."
Demery finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds for the Greyhounds. Kelly added 21 points, and Teich finished with 11. Hampton didn't score again after halftime, going 0 for 6 from the field.
The Devils continued to shoot as well in the second half as they did in the first half, finishing at 53 percent on 28 of 53. They were also 21 of 27 at the free-throw line.
Fort Scott finished at 41 percent from the field on 28 of 68. But they also forced just two turnovers in the second half after basically living off Allen County miscues in the first half. The rebounding numbers ended up even at 35 for each team.
"All our (offensive) percentages look right," Couch said. "That's why I had a quick meeting with them afterwards. I said everything on paper looked good. That was a game of heart. Allen County's girls were down at halftime. They were down. We don't know how to put anybody away. We are good at doing all the things we're not supposed to do and really bad at doing the things we're supposed to do."
NOTES -- The women's team will have a "Pink Zone" game Saturday when they host Johnson County at 2 p.m. to promote breast cancer awareness. In the past few games, if you have noticed the officials using pink whistles, this was another thing used for awareness...
ALLEN COUNTY: Clark 0-0 0-0 0, Shaw 3-9 7-8 15, Shaffer 2-3 2-2 6, Malone 6-14 6-7 19, Best 0-2 0-0 0, Rockhold 2-2 2-2 6, House 2-3 1-1 5, Nisbett 3-7 2-2 8, Johnson 10-13 1-5 21. TOTALS: 28-53 21-27 80.
FORT SCOTT: Bloodworth 0-0 0-0 0, Tiech 4-13 0-0 11, Hampton 3-13 2-2 10, Mattox 2-5 2-2 8, Demery 9-14 3-4 22, Kelly 9-21 0-3 21, Okoronkwo 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson 1-1 2-2 4. TOTALS: 28-68 9-13 76.
Halftime: Fort Scott, 44-31.
Three-point field goals: Allen County 3-13 (Shaw 2-6, Malone 1-4, Best 0-1, Nisbett 0-2), Fort Scott 11-33 (Kelly 3-6, Teich 3-12, Mattox 2-3, Hampton 2-10, Demery 1-2).
Total fouls: Allen County 18, Fort Scott 21. Fouled out: Kelly. Technical fouls: None.
Rebounds: Allen County 35 (Malone 8), Fort Scott 35 (Demery 11). Assists: Allen County 8 (Nisbett 3), Fort Scott 14 (Hampton 4). Turnovers: Allen County 18, Fort Scott 16. Steals: Allen County 9 (Nisbett 3), Fort Scott 11 (Kelly 3). Blocked shots: Allen County 1 (Shaw), Fort Scott 1 (Kelly).