No. 16 Indy women defeat 'Hounds, 64-46

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Independence's women, ranked 16th in the NJCAA Division I poll, walked away from Arnold Arena Saturday afternoon with a 64-46 victory over Fort Scott Community College as the Greyhounds again struggled early.

It's been a common element in Fort Scott's conference losses: the Greyhounds try too hard not to make mistakes early -- which leads to mistakes. Then once they get through them, the finally play well but find themselves too far down to come back.

"I told them that I'd rather have them go hard 100 percent and make a mistake because something good will come out of that mistake," Fort Scott head coach Diana Couch said. "But when they're hesitant, there's no good in that because nobody knows what's going on. There's that fear and we don't know where it comes from."

The 'Hounds (1-7 East, 6-13 overall) are still playing out of their normal rotation as point guard Cheyanne Ivy isn't 100-percent recovered from an injury. Kate Atherton, the other point guard, also wasn't able to play. This forced Jolee Sharp to play more at the point than usual.

Sharp got in foul trouble in the first half. That forced Couch to use players out of position. The Pirates (6-2, 16-3) took advantage, going on a 20-1 run over the final six minutes to go into the locker room with a 38-19 lead.

"We really don't want the ball in (Sharp's) hands (as a point guard) but until Cheyenne gets back into rhythm, we have to keep playing her there," Couch said. "I think Jolee did a really good job considering the way things went."

Indy led 58-26 with 11:44 remaining in the game. At that point, the 'Hounds finally began to click, holding the Pirates to 2 field goals the rest of the way -- none in the final four minutes -- and outscoring them 20-6.

Sharp finished with 15 points and 8 steals for the Greyhounds, who shot 34 percent from the field, making 16 of 46 field-goal attempts. Kelby McGrath led Independence with 13 points. Dominique Mosley added 11 points and Courtney Waldner finished with 10 for the Pirates, who shot 44 percent on 27 of 61.

Fort Scott outrebounded Independence, 38-31. Burgandie Lewis hauled down 11 boards for the 'Hounds.

The Greyhounds finish up the first time through the conference schedule Wednesday evening against Labette at 5:30 at Arnold Arena. Saturday, they'll begin the second time through with a road trip to Cowley.

"Second round of conference is always different," Couch says. "We're going to look at the Cowley film and say we can break that press now. There's so much that we've grown. But it's about seeing it and believing it."

INDEPENDENCE: McGrath 5-10 0-0 13, Mosley 4-11 3-4 11, Walder 5-7 0-0 10, Moore 3-8 0-3 8, Graves 3-3 0-0 7, Anderson 3-4 0-0 6, Peterson 2-4 0-0 4, Hastings 1-2 0-0 3, Thomas 1-2 0-0 2, Wilson 0-1 0-0 0, DaShawna Carey 0-2 0-0 0, Riabencheko 0-5 0-0 0, Rice 0-0 0-0 0, Maxwell 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 27-61 3-7 64.

FORT SCOTT: Sharp 5-13 5-6 15, Smith 3-0 0-0 9, Arnold 4-9 0-3 8, Pearl 1-7 5-6 7, McKenzie 2-5 1-2 5, Lewis 1-3 0-0 2, Ivy 0-0 0-1 0. TOTALS: 16-46 11-18 46.

Halftime: Independence 38-19.

Three-point field goals: Independence 7-16 (McGrath 3-7, Moore 2-4, Hastings 1-1, Graves 1-1, Peterson 0-1, Wilson 0-1, Anderson 0-1), Fort Scott 3-13 (Smith 3-7, Pearl 0-3, Sharp 0-3).

Total fouls: Independence 18, Fort Scott 14. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none.

Rebounds: Independence 33 (Anderson 7), Fort Scott 38 (Lewis 11). Assists: Independence 12 (Anderson 5), Fort Scott 7 (Pearl 4). Turnovers: Independence 23, Fort Scott 31. Steals: Independence 18 (Anderson 6), Fort Scott 17 (Sharp 8). Blocked shots: Independence 4 (Anderson 2), Fort Scott none.