'Hound women take 5 seed despite loss, go to Seward tonight

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Fort Scott Community College's women lost to Kansas City Kansas, 70-60, in the final game of the regular-season at Arnold Arena Saturday afternoon. But they still got the No. 5 seed from the Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division they were looking for when Coffeyville defeated Labette later that night in Parsons.

The results of the day left Fort Scott and Labette tied with no tie-breakers between them -- they had split the season series with each other, swept the teams that finished below them and been swept by all the teams above them. Fort Scott won a coin toss to get the No. 5 seed out of the Eastern Division.

Seward County and Butler met on Saturday night with the winner earning the No. 4 seed out of the Jayhawk Conference-Western Division. Seward won that game, 48-44, and will host Fort Scott tonight at 6 p.m. in Liberal, Kan., in a Region VI Tournament first-round contest.

KSEK-FM, 99.1, will cover that game with pregame starting at 5:30. Fort Scott goes into the game with a record of 9-21. Seward County is 20-10.

Neither Fort Scott nor KCK (19-11) were able to hit any shots other than free throws in the first 6:55 of play. The first field goal of the contest came with 13:05 left in the first half when Kerenza Singletary rebounded a teammate's missed free throw and stuck it in. It was the Greyhounds' first make on 8 attempts and made the score 6-1.

Staci Carter made it 8-1 moments later on another basket. KCK got its first field goal with 11:58 remaining when Michelle Selbe made a basket while she was fouled, ending an 0-for-8 start for the Blue Devils. She also made the free throw.

Singletary scored again to extend Fort Scott's lead to 10-4 with 11:35 to go but Kansas City went on a 11-0 run in the next five minutes to take the lead for good.

The 'Hounds got within 28-24 at the half when Ashlie Baker and Jolee Sharp scored back-to-back with under 30 seconds to go. Carter stole the inbound pass after Sharp's basket, preventing KCK from extending the lead.

"I think we got a little comfortable with that lead," Fort Scott head coach Diana Couch said. "We're not used to having that big a lead in the first half. (KCK) made some adjustments defensively and we fell back into the same routine that we had when we were at their place."

Kansas City had three players 6 feet or taller. And they are the focus of the Devils' passing game rather than being huge scorers.

"They had a lot more height and had a really good inside-outside game," Couch said. "And we haven't faced many teams that have done that so well. They are very disciplined in their offense and I think our defense did the best they could considering the height differential."

The 'Hounds did get the lead down to 3 points early in the first half when sophomore Kendra Mattox hit a 3-point shot with 17:54 left, cutting the deficit to 32-29. KCK pulled away again with a 14-6 run to extend the lead to 46-35.

The 'Hounds were able to get within 3 or 4 points a few more times, the last at 60-56 with 3:58 left.

Sharp led the 'Hounds with 15 points while Mattox added 11 and Danielle Wiese, playing for the first time since late December, chipped in with 10.

Alyssa Rushton led Kansas City with 18 points followed by Mikenna Greathouse with 12 and Selbe with 10.

After the game, Mattox was honored as the recipient of the first Fan Favorite Award as voted by Greyhound fans

"One thing I think everybody knows is that when Kendra Mattox steps on the floor, she's going to give everything she has," Couch said. "And she doesn't have a problem smiling on the floor. She takes the game very light-hearted and she's competitive in the right way."

KANSAS CITY KANSAS: Birk 1-2 0-0 3, Belousova 3-6 0-0 8, Rowan 2-5 2-2 7, Sobiaski 0-1 2-2 2, Selbe 4-10 2-2 10, Rushton 5-12 5-6 18, David 2-6 0-0 4, Greathouse 5-13 2-3 12, Schreiber 3-7 0-0 6. TOTALS: 25-52 13-15 70.

FORT SCOTT: Crow 1-3 0-0 3, Sharp 5-9 3-5 15, Singletary 3-4 1-2 7, Mattox 4-16 1-2 11, Wiese 2-3 6-8 10, Carter 2-9 1-2 5, Baker 2-5 3-4 9, Bonaparte 0-0 0-1 0, Hammer 0-1 0-0 0. TOTALS: 19-50 15-24 60.

Halftime: Kansas City Kansas, 28-24.

Three-point field goals: KCK 7-20 (Rushton 3-7, Belousova 2-5, Birk 1-2, Rowan 1-3, Davis 0-3), Fort Scott 7-19 (Sharp 2-3, Baker 2-3, Mattox 2-10, Crow 1-3).

Total fouls: KCK 20, Fort Scott 17. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.

Rebounds: KCK 39 (Schreiber 8), Fort Scott 33 (Carter 12). Assists: KCK 9 (3 with 2 each), Fort Scott 11 (3 with 3 each). Turnovers: KCK 16, Fort Scott 25. Steals: KCK 7 (Rushton 4), Fort Scott 9 (Sharp 3). Blocked shots: KCK 3 (3 with 1 each), Fort Scott 4 (Carter 3).