By ALAN HOSKINS
The Lady Blue Devils of Kansas City Kansas Community College rebounded from their worst performance of the season with one of their best Saturday, a 69-57 win at Labette.
The Blue Devil men, however, were not as fortunate as Labette snapped KCKCC’s three-game winning streak with a come-from-behind 68-50 win.
The split left both teams 3-5 in the Jayhawk East and 7-12 overall as they stay on the road for three more in a row – at Coffeyville Wednesday, Cowley County Saturday and Hesston next Monday before returning home against Johnson County Wednesday, Feb. 6.
Held to a season low in a 42-33 loss to Allen County on Wednesday, the Lady Blue Devils got 36 points and 18 rebounds from the trio of Alexandria Blaurock, Latosha Ware and Bailey West at Labette.
“We haven’t that good a post play in way too long,” said coach Valerie Stambersky. “”Latosha and Bailey both had great nights in the paint and Alexandria not only had a good offensive night but held Labette’s leading scorer to two field goals. It was really a great team effort, 21 assists to 15 turnovers and 75 percent shooting from the foul line. It was the kind of start we needed to this four-game road trip.”
West and Blaurock each had 13 points, Ware 10, Samantha Hurst 9 and Mariah Maursak 8 in one of the most balanced attacks of the season.
Ware also hauled down a season high 10 rebounds and Blaurock six to give the Blue Devils a 37-34 advantage on the boards. Catalysts in the win were Marusak with five assists and Paris Johnson and Nage Umutlu with four each.
The Blue Devil men took a 31-30 halftime lead in the nightcap but couldn’t overcome chilly frigid second half shooting and Labette’s rebound superiority. Outrebounded 43-28, the Blue Devils managed only 7 of 27 shots the second half for 25.9 percent while Labette was blazing away at a .571 clip (16 of 28).
Dominique Washington had 20 points and Evrard Atcho and Josh Rupprecht 10 each for KCKCC but no Blue Devil had more than four rebounds.
