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Greyhounds break slump by holding off Comets
NEVADA -- Fort Scott Community College's defense prevented Cottey from getting a good look at the basket on its final possession and the Greyhounds held off the Comets, 60-58, in non-conference play at the Hinkhouse Center here Tuesday night.
The win broke a five-game losing streak to other junior colleges, one of those being a five-point loss to the Comets at Arnold Arena on November 22. After starting the season 6-1, the 'Hounds has lost five of their last six going into Tuesday's match, with that lone win coming against the Friends University junior varsity.
The Greyhounds (8-6) also had to hold on as one player fouled out and three others finished the game with four fouls, three of who were post players.
"We had to make sure we kept on top of who had four fouls and rotated them in and out," FSCC head coach Katie Reihmann said. "We also had other people on the bench step up big to help out with that early on."
Freshman Kamiron Luptak scored a college-best 21 points as she connected on 5 of 8 3-point field-goal attempts. She also had 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Her transition basket off an Emalee Copeland steal gave Fort Scott the lead, 31-30, at the half. She also made two key baskets in the second half as the Greyhounds rallied from 4 points down with six minutes to go.
"She had a great night, not just scoring but all-around," Reihmann said, "defensively, both ends of the floor."
Cottey (6-3) led 52-48 with 6:02 left in the game after Emily Allen stuck back a teammate's missed free throw to finish off a 5-0 run. Allen, who scored 12 points in the second half, scored a layup with 4:19 left to make it 54-49, forcing Reihmann to call a time out.
Moments later, Luptiak hit a 3-point shot from the top of the key. Then she took a steal in for a layup with 2:02 to go, bringing Fort Scott within 55-54. She had a chance to tie it by converting the 3-point play but missed the free throw.
Linsey Denney made one of two free throws for Cottey. Then Amanda Cicero scored her only field goal of the night on a transition basket from a Luptak assist, tying the score at 56-56 with 1:11 to go.
With 32 seconds left, Cicero found Kayleigh Haggard in transition, who stopped and hit a 3-point shot from the right wing --her only field goal of the night -- to break the tie with 32 seconds to go.
Cottey got a shot off quickly, then was awarded the ball by the possession arrow when it was tied up on the rebound with 13.4 seconds left. Alyssa Jones attempted a 3-point shot for Nevada but it was blocked by Jessica McAdams, who didn't worry about having four fouls herself. Denney was fouled going for the ball, but only got two free throws since the foul was well after the shot. She made both with 9.7 seconds to go.
Bret McGuire was fouled almost immediately. She made the second of her two free throws with 8.9 seconds left to make it 60-58 for the 'Hounds.
Cottey called time out after getting the ball to half court with eight seconds remaining. The Comets ran a play where Cierra Wong was supposed to look right for Machela VanGinnip. But she was covered so Wong went left, then tried a bounce pass into the paint for Allen that was tipped out of bounds by a Fort Scott defender with 6/10ths of a second left. Allen threw the inbound pass to Denney but she couldn't handle the ball cleanly.
Fort Scott overcame a horrid 6-of-23 night at the charity stripe by making 8 of 24 3-point shots, blocking 6 Comet shots and turning the ball over just 12 times, 6 in each half. Cottey, though it made 18 of 25 free throws, turned the ball over 10 times in each half and made only 2 3-pointers.
Allen and VanGinnip each scored 16 points for Cottey while Denney added 14. Baylea White was second in scoring for Fort Scott with 8 points before she fouled out.
Cottey outrebounded Fort Scott, 49-42, but McAdams grabbed 8 of her 12 boards in the second half for the 'Hounds. Sierra Shoulders handed out 4 assists.
Fort Scott shot 38 percent from the field in the game, making 23 of 61 field-goal attempts. Cottey shot 44 percent on 19 of 57 while going just 9 of 31 in the second half.
Cottey might have finished with a better percentage --won the game, actually -- had it continued to shoot as well as it did in the game's first 6 1/2 minutes, when the Comets were finding space inside and hitting short jumpers and layups. That helped Cottey build a 13-5 lead.
But Fort Scott got back into it quickly as White scored 6 straight points and Luptak hit the first of her 3-pointers from the left wing to give Fort Scott 14-13 lead with 11:31 to go.
The teams traded scores for most of the rest of the half. Luptak hit a 3-pointer and White scored again to put Fort Scott up 25-20 with 4:58 to go, the largest lead the Greyhounds held at any point in the game.
Sydney Rose put Cottey ahead, 30-29, by sticking back a teammate's miss with 50 seconds to go.
Fort Scott will look to go into the holiday break with one more win as North Central Missouri comes to town Friday evening. The game tips off at 5:30 p.m. at Arnold Arena. It will be Community Night with the Greyhounds. More information about that can be seen immediately below
Fort Scott Community College's women and Westar Energy will co-sponsor "Community Night with the Greyhounds" when the FSCC hosts North Central Missouri at 5:30 p.m. Friday night at Arnold Arena.
"We're looking to get things going for Toys for Tots again for Fort Scott and Bourbon County," FSCC head coach Katie Reihmann said following Tuesday night's win at Cottey. "We'd just love to get people out and support that."
FSCC has sponsored a Toys for Tots drive each December for the past three seasons.
Admission to the game will be free with Westar covering the cost.
FORT SCOTT: Copeland 0-0 1-2 1, Luptak 8-12 0-1 21, Shoulders 1-10 0-3 3, McGuire 1-4 1-2 4, Haggard 1-3 1-4 4, White 4-11 0-0 8, Cicero 1-3 2-8 4, Valadez 2-6 0-0 4, McAdams 2-5 1-3 5, Wilhelmi 3-7 0-0 6. TOTALS: 23-61 6-23 60.
COTTEY: Griggs 1-7 0-0 2, Allen 6-15 4-8 16, Harris 0-0 2-2 2, Wong 1-3 0-0 2, Rose 3-9 0-1 6, Jones 0-3 0-0 0, VanGinnip 5-10 4-4 16, Denney 3-10 8-10 14. TOTALS: 19-57 18-25 58.
Halftime: Fort Scott, 31-30.
Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 8-24 (Luptak 5-8, Haggard 1-3, McGuire 1-4, Shoulders 1-6, Valadez 0-1, Cicero 0-2), Cottey 2-11 (VanGinnip 2-6, Rose 0-1, Griggs 0-2, Jones 0-2).
Total fouls: Fort Scott 26, Cottey 23. Fouled out: White.
Rebounds: Fort Scott 42 (McAdams 12), Cottey 49 (Allen 12, Denney 10). Assists: Fort Scott 10 (Shoulders 4), Cottey 6 (Wong 2, Rose 2). Turnovers: Fort Scott 12, Cottey 20. Steals: Fort Scott 9 (Luptak 2, Cicero 2, Valadez 2), Cottey 3 (Griggs 2). Blocked shots: Fort Scott 6 (Haggard 3), Cottey 2 (VanGinnip, Denney).