Jay Daubenberger
Liberal, Kansas – Seward County entered tonight’s game on a three-game win streak and all the momentum on their side to begin the second half of Jayhawk Conference action with revenge in mind against Cloud County where the Lady Saints took firm control from the tip-off and never let the T-Birds get back in reach as SCCC grabbed their fourth straight win 70-57.
Ari Gordon struck first right out of the gates with a quick layup off a feed from Xoe Rosalez to put the first points of the game and another easy score by Allie Myers made it 4-0 in the opening minute as the Lady Saints remained in front through the entire 40:00 minutes of action. SCCC forced the T-Birds into a turnover and Rosalez capitalized with a cashed in three to push ahead 7-4 midway through the first and later dished out another dime to Jamia Carter for a three of her own to maintain their lead and end the first quarter up 14-13.
Carter kept the score growing for Seward County in the second with two straight fast break scores in her first game off the bench this season and was joined by another reserve in Naomi Aragonez who continued her hot streak from the past few games with a big three to move up by seven 23-16. Another long-range bomb from the sophomore guard kept the lead at seven for the Lady Saints before Myers used her size and length down low to score back-to-back layups from the block to enter the break ahead by double figures 38-25.
Kayla Peoples was quiet through most of the night but scored all five of her points in the matter of thirty seconds to lift the lid off the basket to open the third quarter with a mid-range jumper and moments later splashed home a three to increase the Lady Saints advantage to 43-28 over Cloud County. Sanaa Dennis continued to dominate the paint for Seward County with a post move score off a dime by Aragonez who herself slashed down the lane for a layup to put SCCC ahead by sixteen before a quick run by the T-Birds closed the gap back to ten 54-44 to end the quarter.
Myers continued her best scoring game of the season with six straight points for the Lady Saints before Aragonez struck again from beyond the arc to put the lead back to fourteen and her fourth three of the night made it even larger at 68-51. A fastbreak layup by Carter off another Cloud County turnover sealed the deal for Seward County to grab a 70-57 win to start the second half of conference play.
Myers led the Lady Saints with a career high in scoring of 22 points while Carter came off the bench for the first time this season to add 16 and Aragonez continued her lights out shooting to chip in 14 with four made threes.
Seward County now moves up to 11-8 on the 2023-24 overall season and move in front 7-6 in conference action which ties them with Cloud County for the sixth seed in the KJCCC standings. The Lady Saints will look to continue their win streak on the road this upcoming Saturday when they face the Cowley Tigers on Saturday with tip-off scheduled for 2:00 PM.
