Cloud County Women Cruise to 72-43 Home Win Over Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa
Opening up a 7-1 lead just two minutes into the game and using a 22-5 second-quarter scoring difference, the Cloud County Community College women's basketball team would earn a third-straight victory by blowing out Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa by a final score of 72-43 inside Arley Bryant Gymnasium on Monday, November 7th.
The win allows Cloud County to remain unbeaten on the season and improve to 3-0 on the year while NOC-Tonkawa falls to .500 on the year at 2-2 with both losses coming to Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference opponents.
CCCC's 7-1 surge to open the contest would come in the span of just 36 seconds after a scoreless opening minute of basketball as the Mavericks would open the scoring with a free throw before giving up back-to-back buckets in the paint to Cloud County's Maimouna Sissoko and Te Araroa Sopoaga to put the T-Birds up 4-1. After a turnover forced by Lilly Smith, CCCC would see Sopoaga find an open Makayla Twyman who would bury a three as Cloud County would cap off a 7-0 run to take the early lead. Northern Oklahoma would then battle back with five quick points to get within one at 7-6 before seeing the T-Birds respond with baskets by Sissoko and another Twyman triple that would see the lead once again reach six at 12-6 mid-way through the opening period. Cloud County would never see their lead drop below the six-point margin the rest of the opening quarter, slowly building their lead until it reached double-digits in the final 30 seconds of the quarter on a Smith fast break layup to put CCCC up 23-13 heading to the second quarter.
Points would be hard to come by for both squads in the first few minutes of the second period as made buckets from both squads in the first 56 seconds of play would make way for just four points being scored over the next four minutes of action. Free throw shooting for the T-Birds would leave its mark in the quarter as Cloud County would manage to get the charity stripe 10 times in the quarter while hitting seven free throws to continue to add to their lead as the CCCC defense would smother the Mavs and force 11 turnovers in the period. Following NOC-Tonkawa's bucket with 9:04 left in the quarter, Cloud County would go on to score the next 20 points of the quarter while holding the Mavs scoreless until just 1:13 before halftime as Northern Oklahoma would hit on a three to get back on the board and see a 27-point deficit heading into the halftime break.
The lead for Cloud County would be sustained throughout the opening five minutes of the second half as the T-Birds continued to keep Northern Oklahoma limited on the offensive end while taking advantage of multiple different ways to get into the scoring column with free throws again being part of the equation that would see CCCC take their largest lead of the game at 58-26 with 2:35 left in the quarter. The Mavs would then respond with a 7-0 run to get the deficit back down to 25 before seeing a Sarah Lawless made field goal with 15 seconds left in the quarter put things back at a 27-point margin as Cloud County would be in full control heading to the fourth and well on their way to a victory.
Needing to close things out without letting NOC-Tonkawa have a chance to get back into the game, Cloud County would see a 4:12 scoring drought to open the final quarter of action allowing the Mavs to cut the deficit down only slightly as Northern Oklahoma would only be able to score three points during the time in which they kept CCCC off the scoreboard. After seeing their lead get down to 24, the T-Birds would respond by scoring six quick points to go back up 30 with just over four minutes left in the contest as things would finally start to become out of reach for NOC-Tonkawa. Down the final stretch of action, both teams would connect on made shots from beyond the arc with the Mavs scoring six of the final 11 points to see Cloud County cap off another big win as CCCC has seen all three wins on the season come by at least 16 points.
Shooting just over their season average in shooting percentage, Cloud County would finish the game with a 38.3 percent (23-for-60) field goal percentage while hitting on seven-of-22 (31.8 percent) of their attempts from three while shooting and making a season-high in free throws (19-for-30, 63.3 percent). Another dominant performance on the glass would see the T-Birds outrebound NOC-Tonkawa by a 49-31 margin while outscoring the Mavs 33-14 in points off turnovers and 13-2 in second-chance points.
Leading the T-Birds for a second-straight game would be Sissoko with a team-best 19 points and seven rebounds while Alize Ruiz would have a career night with 16 points and 20 rebounds to finish just two shy of tying the single-game rebounding record. Joining the duo in double figures would be Twyman who had 12 points as all 12 points would come on shots from beyond the arc to go along with two rebounds and two steals. Northern Oklahoma would be led by a game-high 20 points from starter Jordan Holman who also grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and had three blocks in the contest.
What's Next?
CCCC is back in action Thursday evening for another 6 PM tip-off when the T-Birds play host to McCook Community College in non-conference action. The game will be the first of two games in a three-day span against teams from the state of Nebraska, with Cloud County also playing against Northeast Community College just two days later. The Indians dropped a 58-51 home decision to Northwest Kansas Technical College on Monday evening to fall to 1-3 overall on the season with their lone win coming over Eastern Wyoming College on November 5th.