SCCC Runs Past Colby

Coming off of a big win at #7 Barton on Wednesday night, some wondered if the Seward County Saints would have a letdown as they faced a Colby team that finished 8^th in the conference a year ago. But the guys in green did their homework and realized that this Trojan team was a little bit different, coming into Saturday night’s game with Seward with a 13-2 mark and fresh off a win over Cloud County in their conference opener. The Saints started slow, but once they got going they were like a snowball rolling downhill, going on an 11-1 run late in the first half to carry a lead into the locker rooms and then blowing the Trojans out of the water in the second half, scoring 47 points to win going away 82-65 to move to 14-2 on the year.

It was tough sledding early on for both the Seward County Saints and the Colby Trojans in the matchup of a pair of teams with identical 13-2, 1-0 records on the 2011-2012 season. The first basket of the game was put in over two minutes into things and it was Colby that held a 9-4 lead after four minutes were gone. The Saints got things on track though and scored seven straight points on a three pointer from Kaheem Ransom and four straight from Deverell Biggs to take their first lead of the game at 11-9 just one minute later. A pesky Colby club fought back to retake the lead 16-13 but another 7-0 run for Seward capped by five straight points from Biggs made it a 20-16 game in favor of Seward with 9:45 left in the half. The teams continued to jostle for position and were deadlocked at 24 with 4:36 left after a long jumper from the Trojans found its way down the nylon. The next four minutes would be all Seward County Saints. Seward started a 11-1 run with a finish inside from Corieon Pearson and got hoops from four different players to take a 35-25 lead with just 56 seconds remaining in the half. Colby cut the Seward lead to six before the break but the Saints felt comfortable with a 35-29 advantage heading to the locker rooms.

Colby wasted no time erasing the Saints advantage as the second half got underway. Blistering the nets for eight straight points to knot the game at 37 with 17:16 to go in the game. After a put back from Edson Avila the Saints were back on top but a three pointer to answer from Colby had the squad from Northwest Kansas in the lead at 40-39. Avila dished to Irvin Hollinger on Seward’s next trip down the floor for an answer and got the Saints going. Ransom connected on a shot to make it 43-40 Seward and moments later a three point play from Hollinger made it 46-40. The Saints run hit 10-0 on another three point play from Hollinger and instead of trying to stop the momentum with a timeout, the Trojans decided to wait for the media timeout to hit, which proved costly as Seward ran their lead all the way up to 16 when Trey Starks drove and score to make it 56-40 and all but put the game away with 9:33 left. The Saints lead hit 20 with a three from Starks and their distance grew to 25 on two Pearson free throws to make it 68-43. Colby cut the deficit late in the game but the victor had already been decided as Seward breezed to an 82-65 win to dash the Trojan hopes of a road upset.

The Saints were nearly flawless offensively in the second half of the win, shooting 64% from the field, a perfect 3 for 3 from three point land, and 12 of 13 from the free throw line, good for 92%. Biggs and Ransom led the way scoring for Seward as each put up 17 in the win. Biggs also finished with 6 assists and 5 steals for the Saints. Hollinger scored 16 on 5 of 10 shooting and Starks played well off the bench for Seward, scoring 11 and coming down with 5 rebounds.

Seward improves to 14-2 on the season and 2-0 in Jayhawk West Conference play, making them one of just two teams at 2-0 in the conference after week one of action. The Saints should find their way into the NJCAA Top 20 Poll this week after a pair of losses for #7 Barton, a loss for #10 Hutchinson, as well as a loss from #13 Kansas City Kansas, all Region VI teams previously ranked ahead of Seward.

Lady Saints win Big

January 7, 2012

It was a mismatch on paper, and it played out that way Saturday night in the Greenhouse as the 12-2 and #10 team in the country, the Seward County Lady Saints hosted the 4-11 Colby Lady Trojans in Seward’s conference home opener. The Lady Saints took Colby out of the game early with an 18-2 run and went into the halftime break leading 55-19 before cruising to a 96-49 win.

Colby scored on their opening possession of the game to take a 3-0 lead right off the bat but that would be all the scoring they would do for a while as the Lady Saints scored 16 straight points to go on top 16-3 five minutes into the contest. Seward kept the heat on Colby and disrupted the Lady Trojans offensive flow with their pressure defense, leading to a pair of fast break opportunities followed by back to back buckets from Mariah Lee to make it 25-7 Seward with 12:14 remaining in the half. Seward opened up a 39-13 lead after a long rebound by Anete Kirsteine and a run out by Ricquia Jones and took their first 30 point lead of the game at 45-15 when LaQuecia Parker was fouled and knocked down a free throw with 4:07 left in the half. Six straight points from Charmaine Burns to close the half gave the Lady Saints a dominating 55-19 lead as the teams hit the locker rooms for the break as Seward finished the first period shooting 53% from the field compared to just 23% for the Lady Trojans.

The teams played even for the first nine minutes of the second half until Kelsey Blair buried a three pointer from the corner to put Seward up 74-36. Hanna Bognar hit a free throw after a rebound and a foul for the Lady Saints to put the gals in green up 79-39 for the first 40 point lead of the game with 7:52 to go. The spread stayed there until late in the game when the Lady Saints went on an 11-0 run to close the game out, thanks in large part to a pair of Mattie Yanke three’s on dishes from Kayla Thomas, to give Seward an exclamation point on a dominating 96-49 win.

Seward was extremely efficient on the offensive end of the floor in the win, shooting 45% in the game and turning the ball over just 7 times, a season best. Five Lady Saints scored in double figures in the victory led by a career high 18 from Blair who connected on 7 of 14 overall and 4 of 10 from downtown, as well as an 18 point performance from Kirsteine who turns in her second straight strong game. Jones finished with 12 points for Seward as did Yanke who did all of her scoring from deep, hitting 4 of 6 from beyond the arc. Burns had 11 points and 5 steals for the Lady Saints and Lee had 9 points in 17 minutes of work. Thomas returned to the lineup with a nearly flawless 8 point, 9 assist effort without committing a turnover and Bognar put up 7 points and a team high 9 rebounds in 23 minutes of floor time.

The #10 Lady Saints improve to 13-2 overall on the season as they slowly begin to gain momentum with their 6^th straight win. Their Jayhawk West mark moves to 2-0 where it will be when they head to Pratt Wednesday night to take on the Lady Beavers for a 6:00 tip in the Beaverdome.