Jay Daubenberger
Liberal, Kansas – Seward County Lady Saints women’s basketball tipped-off inside of The Green House for the first time in 2024 as SCCC took on KJCCC rival and nationally ranked #14 Dodge City where despite fighting and staying within reach through the first three quarters, an offensive onslaught in the fourth by the Conqs resulted in a 73-53 loss for the Lady Saints. It was DC3’s first win at SCCC since February 8, 1992.
Seward County started the contest off strong on both ends of the floor with two easy buckets by Ari Gordon and Allie Myers in the first minute and a couple possessions later Myers hauled in an offensive rebound for an and-one putback score to tie the game up at 7-7 halfway through the first quarter. Dodge City answered with a 10-0 run while the Lady Saints struggled to find their way back to the basket, falling behind 17-7 before a quick slash down the lane by Jamia Carter resulted in two more points before the buzzer sounded to keep SCCC’s deficit manageable at 19-9 through the first ten minutes of play.
The second quarter was back-and-forth as both teams exchanged bucket for bucket as Seward County attempted to climb back from a deficit that grew out to 30-15 before Naomi Aragonez was able to help spark a small run for the Lady Saints with a corner three off an assist by Jamia Carter who drove the baseline on the next possession for a reverse layup to put her team back to within ten where it stayed heading into halftime as Dodge City held firm to a 32-22 advantage.
Xoe Rosalez helped get the scoring for SCCC started in the second half with a big corner three and back-to-back buckets from Gordon closed the gap all the way to seven with Dodge City’s lead down to 36-29 only three minutes into the third. Defense created offense for the Lady Saints as Carter snatched away the rock and found Kayla Peoples wide open in the corner for three more points before a fastbreak layup by Rosalez slashed the Conqs lead all the way down to two at 36-34. Dodge City was able to bounce back and grow their advantage back out to nine in the final minutes of the third when Aragonez and Rosalez each created second chance scoring opportunities for themselves to bring the score within five at 44-39 with one quarter remaining.
Shooting struggles appeared at the worst possible time for Seward County as the Lady Saints shot only 18.2% from the field in the final ten minutes of action. Myers grabbed her ninth offensive rebound of the game for two points in favor of SCCC while Gordon scored off two fast break layups, but while the Lady Saints could only make four total field goals in the fourth quarter, Dodge City had their best offensive quarter of the game with 29 points in the final ten minutes to pull away and eventually take the win against Seward County 73-53.
Gordon led all scorers with a career high of 16 points that was followed by 12 points from Carter. Myers was two points shy of her fifth double-double with 8 points and 14 rebounds including nine on the offensive glass.
The Lady Saints now fall to .500 in the 2023-24 season with a 7-7 overall record and now sit at 3-5 in Jayhawk conference action. They will look to regroup for another nationally ranked opponent on Wednesday when they hit the road and go out to Hutchinson to face the Blue Dragons with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 PM. Saints Shoot-around at 5:15 on 107.5.
