Alan Hoskins
Thursday, March 05, 2009
College Advancement
If playing on the road in the Jayhawk Conference isn’t difficult enough, Kansas City Kansas Community College’s Region VI playoff fate necessitated playing in the farthest southwest corner of the state of Kansas. And against two of the Western division powers.
The result was the inevitable as Seward County took advantage of KCKCC’s six-hour bus trip to Liberal to race to a 77-54 win in the men’s game and 76-34 in the women’s contest.
Hitting six first-half 3-pointers, the Seward men built a 39-21 halftime lead in extending their record to 23-8. Five players scored in double figures for the Saints, who had a 35-29 rebounding edge and forced 20 turnovers while making just nine.
Derrick Denny was KCKCC’s lone offensive threat, hitting 6 of 12 3-pointers as he led all scorers with 22 points. Travis Fairley added seven points and four assists, Jack Shortell six points and six rebounds and Derrick Howard six points and six assists in their final KCKCC games. The loss closed out the Blue Devils’ season at 10-21.
The Seward women boosted their record to 26-5 by opening a 35-18 halftime lead. KCKCC had a 45-38 rebounding advantage as Ashleigh Gallio and Shannon Carlin each had seven and Cameron Roland six but the Blue Devils could not overcome 32 turnovers or 26.9 field goal shooting.