Jay Daubenberger
Liberal, Kansas – After grabbing a big win this past Saturday in Jayhawk conference action, the Seward County Lady Saints’ women’s basketball team faced off and pulverized the Pirates of Independence behind three Lady Saints in double figures including a career night for Ari Gordon who led SCCC to their ninth win on the season.
Gordon led the way for the Lady Saints in the opening minutes against the Pirates, scoring on back-to-back possessions first with an offensive putback and then moments later with a steal and score before Jamia Carter slashed her way down the middle of the paint for an easy layup to put Seward County in front 6-4 and the Lady Saints never looked back. Gordon found a cutting Kayla Peoples across the baseline for two points then sunk in another shot of her own to go ahead by five before Carter scored the last six points of the quarter for Seward County to end the first up 16-10.
Carter continued her hot streak in the opening seconds of the second quarter with a corner three to push the Lady Saints’ lead to nine before Gordon knocked in a pair of shots to exchange with Independence in a back-and-forth affair throughout the quarter. Naomi Aragonez came off the bench and made an immediate impact for SCCC with a knock down triple from beyond the arc to increase their lead to ten before the Pirates slashed it back to four. In the final thirty seconds of the half Gordon once again used her court vision to find an open Aragonez in the corner for a cashed in three before a quick fast break score from Independence put the score at 32-27 heading into the halftime break.
Seward County exploded in the third quarter for 25 points including a 62.5 shooting percentage from long-range to move out of reach of the Pirates. Allie Myers hauled in her ninth rebound of the afternoon to lead to a pair of second chance points to put SCCC up 36-28 to increase the advantage back to eight and a huge three from Carter helped keep it there at 42-34 before the third quarter media timeout. The Lady Saints caught fire immediately after the timeout with Xoe Rosalez knocking in a three-pointer that was followed by another long-range bomb by Aragonez to pull away 48-34. Peoples joined in on the fun by cashing in the fourth Lady Saints’ three of the quarter right before Aragonez knocked in the fifth to enter the final ten minutes of action far ahead of Independence with a 57-38-point lead.
The Lady Saints continued their run in the fourth as Carter and Gordon each scored off two quick drives to put SCCC up by twenty-three 61-38. Carter was able to drop a dime right to a running Rosalez on the fast break to create an easy layup for the sophomore guard and another jumper from Gordon all but sealed it for the Lady Saints as Seward County would take the win 74-57 over the Pirates.
Carter led the Lady Saints with 22 points on the afternoon while Gordon recorded the best game of her young career with 18 points and 13 rebounds for Seward County. Aragonez once again knocked in four threes for 12 points with a perfect 4/4 from beyond the arc and Myers was one point short of another double-double with 9 points and 13 rebounds to go with 3 steals and 3 blocks.
SCCC now improves to 9-8 on the 2023-24 season and now push ahead in the KJCCC standings with a 5-6 record in Jayhawk action. The Lady Saints will now hit the road on Saturday for a two hour drive to the Beaverdome when they face off with the Pratt Beavers at 5:30 PM CST. The game airs on 107.5 with Saints Shoot-around at 5:15.
