Alan Hoskins
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
College Advancement
Kansas City Kansas Community College will head west – way west – for opening round play in the Region VI playoffs Tuesday.
Swept by Coffeyville in their season finales Saturday, both Blue Devil teams will play Seward County at Liberal in the far southeast corner of Kansas, the farthest distance for any KCKCC foe. The No. 2 seeded Seward women (25-5) finished 13-3 and in a tie for second behind No. 16 ranked Barton County in the Jayhawk West while the third-seeded Seward men (22-8) finished 9-7 in a tie behind Barton.
Coffeyville’s sweep of the Blue Devils wrapped up Jayhawk East championships for both teams at 12-2 but neither came easy. The Red Raven men needed a big second half for an 82-70 win while the Coffeyville women turned back a second half KCKCC rally for 62-44 triumph.
The Blue Devils trailed 39-38 in a men’s first half that had seven lead changes and four ties as both teams shot 53 percent. However, Coffeyville opened the second half with an 11-2 run for a 50-40 lead and stayed in front by hitting 15 of 27 second half shots for 55.6 per cent while KCKCC (10-20) slipped to 40 percent and .471 for the game, a percentage that would win most games.
Derrick Denny continued his spectacular 3-point shooting, hitting 6 of 11 and finishing with a game high 23 points despite a swarm of Red Raven defenders. Travis Fairley added 10 points and six rebounds while Melvin Gatson scored nine and Josh Grayson eight while Derrick Howard had seven assists.
Coffeyville’s women took advantage of KCKCC’s 1 of 12 shooting start to open a 15-3 lead in the first eight minutes en route to a 38-17 halftime lead before the Lady Blue Devils (12-18) got back within eight points in the second half.
Blue Devil scoring and rebounding leader, Alexa McGrory, returned to the KCKCC lineup for the first time since December and led all scorers with 17 points. Cameron Roland added nine points and Ashleigh Gallio seven points and six assists for KCKCC. Roland also had seven rebounds and Sarah Craft six for KCKCC, which was out-rebounded only 38-37 but shot just 32.7 percent.