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'Hounds keep control from start to finish
When you look at the stat sheet from Fort Scott Community College's 86-53 victory over the Ottawa University junior varsity at Arnold Arena Tuesday night, it might be hard to believe head coach Stasha Richards when she says that the Greyhounds need to get better.
But while Fort Scott is 4-0 for the first time in seven years, these wins are merely steps along the way in preparation for tougher games to come.
"Our real test is definitely Butler and Colby," Richards said, noting the Greyhounds' two opponents at the Jayhawk Conference Shootout in Coffeyville next week. "We prepare for them every day. Colby's well coached and I know they'll be ready. Butler's dangerous. They have a kid (Lakeshia Levy) leading all the jucos in scoring (25.2 points a game, which leads the nation)."
Fort Scott's got a couple of freshmen who may be able to keep up with Levy. Post Ashley Jappa had her second straight double-double, going for 25 points and 11 rebounds -- and also blocking four shots. Guard Leondra Doomes-Stephens added 14 points and picked up 10 steals. That's her second double-double; her first one was in points and assists in the second opener against Ottawa.
Fort Scott scored a lot of layups on the night, especially on the part of Jappa who scored in transition and also was under the boards to stick back teammates' misses. She made 11 of 14 shots from the field.
"Most of the time, she's a force," Richards said of Jappa. "Ashley's going to make shots. With her and Brittney English in the paint, you have to pick your poison."
English, a sophomore, added 13 points and eight rebounds to the Greyhound effort. She made six of 13 shots from the field. Sophomore Kenya Doss scored 15 points while freshman Brittney Bowles scored 10.
"Brittney Bowles played well," Richards said. "She took it to the basket. She was aggressive, which is something that definitely benefits us."
Fort Scott led 12-2 before five minutes had passed. Jappa, who scored 17 in the first half, was underneath getting layups and stickbacks. Doomes-Stephens was getting the ball in transition and scoring layups.
After a brief Ottawa run, the 'Hounds scored 18 of 20 in a run that made it 32-11 with 5:45 to go in the first half. It was 40-18 at the half.
Ottawa, which committed 18 turnovers in the first half alone, displayed even worse ball control in the second half and this helped fuel a 19-0 run during which Fort Scott made eight of 11 shots from the floor that boosted the margin to 59-20 with exactly 13 minutes to go.
The Greyhounds had one more run left, a 12-0 spurt that made it 84-40 with 3:11 to go.
Now while this sounds like everything's going great, one should temper their excitement with the fact that the Greyhounds were whipping up on a school whose varsity program is currently 0-7.
"We've got to get better defensively," Richards said. "We have to shoot the ball better. We missed a lot of easy buckets. I was surprised Ottawa came out in man-to-man. I'm not trying to list our weaknesses in the paper but Penn Valley and Benedictine played zone against us. We need to improve our outside shooting.
"But I saw a lot of teamwork, especially in the second half. That's what's going to help us in the long run."
Mallory Mueller led Ottawa with 11 points while Sam Reno and Myah Sprew each had 10. Sprew also had 10 rebounds.
Fort Scott shot 48 percent from the field on the night, making 38 of 79 field-goal attempts. They hit at a nearly 60-percent clip in the second half on 20 of 34.
Ottawa made just seven of 24 shots in the first half and finished 18 of 50 from the floor for 36 percent. The Braves also committed 43 turnovers to Fort Scott's 25.
The Greyhounds picked up 28 steals. Doomes-Stephens had eight in the second half along.
Fort Scott is idle until a week from tonight when it plays the Missouri Valley College JV in what was supposed to be the return match in a two-game series this season. But due to a contractual mix-up, Missouri Valley didn't show up for the scheduled Nov. 12 meeting in Fort Scott.
The 'Hounds will face Colby in the Shootout Nov. 30 at 11 a.m. and Butler Dec. 2 at 9 a.m.
NOTES -- Pleasanton High School graduate Caitlyn Conrad started for Ottawa's JV. She finished with four points, four rebounds, two steals and two assists for the Braves. The freshman has also made appearances in Ottawa's varsity games....
Fort Scott is 18-0 when scoring more than 85 points going back to the 1994-95 season....
This was Fort Scott's ninth straight win over a JV team. The last loss was on Nov. 27, 2003, when the MidAmerica Nazarene JV won 70-63.....
While a new NJCAA men's basketball poll was released Tuesday afternoon, the same was not done for the women. Thus Seward County is still considered the No. 1 team even though it's lost two games...
OTTAWA JV: Reno 3-8 2-2 10, Snow 0-1 2-2 2, Covey 1-4 2-5 4, Davis 2-6 2-2 6, Mueller 4-11 2-4 11, Conrad 1-6 2-8 4, Stockton 0-3 0-0 0, Sprew 4-7 2-3 10, Drendel 3-4 0-0 6.. TOTALS: 18-50 14-26 53.
FORT SCOTT: Doomes-Stephens 6-10 2-3 14, Chaney 1-7 0-1 2, Watkins 0-2 0-0 0, B.Bowles 5-6 0-0 10, Doss 7-16 0-0 15, Lawrence 0-2 3-4 3, English 6-13 1-1 13, A.Bowles 2-9 0-0 4, Jappa 11-14 3-4 25. TOTALS: 38-79 9-13 86.
Halftime: Fort Scott, 40-18
Three-point field goals: Ottawa JV 3-18 (Reno 2-6, Mueller 1-5, Snow 0-1, Conrad 0-1, Davis 0-2, Stockton 0-3), Fort Scott 1-11 (Doss 1-4, Doomes-Stephens 0-1, B.Bowles 0-1, Chaney 0-5).
Total fouls: Ottawa JV 11, Fort Scott 23. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none.
Rebounds: Ottawa JV 37 (Sprew 10), Fort Scott 45 (Jappa 11). Assists: Ottawa JV 8 (Covey 2, Conrad 2), Fort Scott 10 (four with 2 each) Turnovers: Ottawa JV 43, Fort Scott 5. Steals: Otttawa JV 13 (Reno 3, Mueller 3), Fort Scott 28 (Doomes-Stephens 10). Blocked shots: Ottawa JV none, Fort Scott 9 (Jappa 4).