Numbers favor Red Devils

Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Fort Scott's Burgandie Lewis (32) shoots over Allen's Hannah Blackwell (30) during first-half play at Arnold Arena Saturday afternoon. Lewis finished with 15 points and 14 rebounds in a 64-57 loss. (Kenny Felt/Exclusive to the Tribune)

D'Shawna Lee was able to return to Fort Scott Community College's lineup Saturday afternoon. But Malori Gales couldn't play due to a concussion, so the Greyhounds still had only five players for its Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division game against Allen, which used all 14 players on its roster.

But the number that really hurt the Greyhounds was 23, the number of turnovers they committed in a 64-57 loss.

It doesn't matter how many players are available. A turnover count that high always hurts.

"If we had maybe 18 or less, we might have been able to win this game," Fort Scott head coach Katie Reihmann said.

The Greyhounds (0-5 East, 3-12 overall) trailed 53-37 with 10 minutes to go but went on a 14-2 run to get within 4 points with 3:21 remaining. Erika McKenzie scored the last 10 points in that run.

Fort Scott wasn't able to get any closer as the energy it took to make that rally possible began to fade.

"It eventually got back and got us," Reihmann said. "They pushed through it pretty good, we just didn't execute. In the end, there were a couple of plays we didn't execute; we turned it over. We had a chance to get within 3 or 2 and we just couldn't get there."

A 3-point play by DaNara Day, Allen's only double-figure scorer, made it 58-51 with 3:20 to go. The Greyhounds scored just six points -- four free throws and a field goal with 35 seconds left -- the rest of the way.

Fort Scott needed to foul to get Allen into the one-and-one but had to be careful who committed the fouls as Lewis and Jackie Horn each had four.

McKenzie finished with 24 points on 8-of-15 field-goal shooting. Burgandie Lewis scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Lee finished with 11 points and 11 boards. Horn also grabbed 10 rebounds.

Day finished with 19 points for Allen (1-2, 8-7), which saw 12 of its 14 players score although no one else had more than 8 points.

Fort Scott made 17 of 44 field-goal attempts for 39 percent and 22 of 24 free throws. Allen shot 31 percent from the field on 21 of 68 and turned the ball over just 9 times. Rebounds were even at 40-40.

Allen started the game shooting wildly from 3-point range, seemingly thinking that they could shoot the Greyhounds out of their own gym. It was looking similar to Thursday night, when Neosho County put up 90 shots from the floor but didn't take control of the game until Fort Scott was down to four players in the overtime session of a game the Panthers won 58-50.

The Red Devils were seeing the same result as Neosho. A lot of shots but not that many makes, especially from 3-point range. And that helped the Greyhounds stay in the game, trailing just 30-26 at the half.

But the Red Devils came out of the locker room and hit 4 of their first 5 three-point attempts as they started the second half with a 18-4 run. They made just 3 of 17 triples in the first half.

Fort Scott scored 6 straight to get back within 48-36 with 11:34 remaining in the half.

The Greyhounds travel to Labette Wednesday night for another division game. The Cardinals were 7-5 coming into conference play but are 0-3 since, failing to score more than 36 points in any of those games.

NOTES -- It's hoped that Gales, a freshman from Lyndon, will be back in time for Wednesday's game.

"Hopefully, she can be back next Wednesday but we're taking it day-by-day right now," Reihmann said. "She just needs to be cleared by the doctor."...


ALLEN: Jones 1-8 0-0 2, Saulsberry 2-5 0-0 5, Davis 1-4 0-0 2, Morton 2-4 0-0 4, Day 6-11 5-7 19, Flanigan 0-0 0-0 0, Remond 1-5 0-0 3, Peel 0-5 0-0 0, Taiclet 2-5 1-2 7, Ware 1-5 0-2 2, Seward 2-5 2-2 8, Blackwell 1-7 4-6 6, Hall 1-2 0-0 2, Molisee 1-2 2-2 4. TOTALS: 21-68 14-21 64.

FORT SCOTT: Horn 1-3 0-0 10, Fisher 2-7 0-0 5, McKenzie 8-15 8-10 24, Lee 2-8 7-7 11, Lewis 4-11 7-7 15. TOTALS: 17-44 22-24 57.

Halftime: Allen, 30-26.

Three-point field goals: Allen 8-32 (Day 2-4, Taiclet 2-4, Seward 2-4, Saulsberry 1-3, Redmond 1-4, Davis 0-1, Morton 0-2, Peel 0-2, Ware 0-2, Jones 0-6), Fort Scott 1-5 (Fisher 1-5).

Total fouls: Allen 16, Fort Scott 16. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.

Rebounds: Allen 40 (Davis 7), Fort Scott 40 (Lewis 14, Lee 11, Horn 10). Assists: Allen 9 (Taiclet 3), Fort Scott 7 (McKenzie 3). Turnovers: Allen 9, Fort Scott 23. Steals: Allen 9 (Day 4), Fort Scott 5 (Fisher 2, McKenzie 2). Blocked shots: Allen 2 (Davis, Molisee), Fort Scott 1 (Horn).