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Shepard's shot sinks Pirates
The plan wasn't for Kylie Shepard to take the shot that held up as the game-winning three-pointer in Wednesday night's Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division game at Arnold Arena. But when the ball came to her, the Uniontown High School graduate stepped up and swished the big shot with 5.5 seconds remaining.
A pair of Valencia Kelly free throws at the end made it a 74-70 win for Fort Scott Community College's women over visiting Independence.
"I was nervous and I felt the clock was running down so I shot the ball and said, 'Go in!'" Shepard said of her game-winner.
The Greyhounds (2-2 East, 9-7 overall) had led most of the contest. But Independence rallied to take a 70-69 lead with 32 seconds remaining.
Fort Scott got the ball back upcourt, then called time out with 10.9 seconds left. The teams came out of the time out, then the Pirates called time out after looking at what the Greyhounds were going to do.
Originally, Shepard would have thrown the inbound pass. But after the Pirates' time out, Leondra Doomes-Stephens threw the inbound pass.
The plan was to get the ball back to Doomes-Stephens but Independence (3-1, 12-4) made sure she wasn't open. The ball then moved up to Kelly, who tossed to Shepard at the top of the key.
"I happened to end up with the ball," Shepard said. "The ball was supposed to go in to Leondra (Doomes-Stephens) but she wasn't open and it got kind scrambled around a little bit and I got the shot. So I stepped up and took it."
Shepard sank a 21-footer. Then Independence's inbound pass went over almost everyone's head and Kiara Marshall had to pick it up in the corner before it went out of bounds and called time out with 4.8 seconds left.
Rhea Codio threw the inbound pass but it was a bit high for Tori Halvorsen, who was barely able to tip it. Kelly came up with the ball for the 'Hounds and drew the foul, making the free throws with 1.5 seconds left.
Fort Scott head coach Stasha Richards, whose team won its second straight game after dropping its first two in conference play, was happy to get the win though she would have liked it to be less dramatic.
"That's a great way to do it," Richards said. "We stepped up a bit (but) we blew a lead. I just tried to harp on the kids to keep fighting. We know that no game is going to be an easy game for us because we're young and we're going to make a lot of mistakes. I think we're fighting now and learning not to lose. We're learning to play to win and we're trying to learn how to finish games."
The game was tied at 6-6 early on. But the Greyhounds went on a 15-0 run to take control with 12:26 to go in the first half. Doomes-Stephens scored nine points in the run and Shepard capped it with the first of her four three-point shots, this one from about 22 feet out.
Another Shepard trey made it 34-15 with 5:07 remaining. But Independence scored 12 in a row as Sadie Webb scored three consecutive layups between a pair of three-point shots.
Kelly scored a layup with 16 seconds left to make it a 36-27 lead for the Greyhounds at the break.
Fort Scott looked as if it would be able to get some breathing room after a 6-2 run made it 59-50 with 8:54 left in the contest. But the Pirates used a 13-3 run to get within 61-60 with 6:37 to go.
Codio gave the Pirates their first lead of the night at 63-63 on a three-pointer with 5:28 left. The 'Hounds scored the next five only to see the Pirates tie it on free throws at 67-67 with 3:17 to go.
Kelly took a pass from Britney Smith for a layup to put the 'Hounds up by two with 2:28 left. But Marshall tied it on a 18-foot jumper with 50 seconds to go and Halvorsen gave Indy the lead by making one of two free throws with 32 seconds to go.
The Greyhounds have had trouble finishing games early in the second because of their youth -- Shepard and Doomes-Stephens are the only healthy sophomores -- but holding off the Pirates may be a sign that things are coming around.
"I've always thought we had the talent," Richards said. "It was the mental aspect of the game. I think that's getting better. We're learning how to deal with adversity. It's all a growing-up process for us. We've got to learn how to be consistent. But we'll take a win whenever we can."
Doomes-Stephens finished with 32 points, 17 rebounds, six assists and three steals to lead the Greyhounds in all those areas. Kelly finished with 19 points and Shepard added 12.
Webb finished with 23 points to lead Independence. Halvorsen added 16 while grabbing 11 rebounds.
Fort Scott shot 43 percent from the field, making 29 of 68 field-goal attempts. Independence shot 33 percent on 24 of 73.
The Greyhounds outrebouned the Pirates, 49-47. Indy turned the ball over only 12 times to Fort Scott's 17.
The 'Hounds continue conference play Saturday night at Neosho County. The Panthers played at Johnson County Wednesday night, losing by a score of 55-47. Game time at Chanute is 6 p.m.
"It's going to be tough," Richards said. "Neosho's a much-improved team. We're going to try to our game and play hard and continue to grow and get better."
NOTES -- This was the sixth 30-plus-point performance of Doomes-Stephens' junior college career. Four of those have come this season....
INDEPENDENCE: Hines 1-2 0-0 3, Plowman 0-2 0-0 0, Codio 3-15 0-0 9, Halvorsen 4-8 7-8 16, Dorris 3-7 0-0 8, Webb 9-20 5-6 23, Marshall 3-12 2-2 9, Johnson 1-7 0-2 2, Bunde 0-0 0-0 0, McClelland 0-0 0-0 0.
FORT SCOTT:Doomes-Stephens 13-26 4-11 32, Shepard 4-12 0-0 12, Duplechin 1-2 1-2 3, Hampton 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 2-4 0-0 4, Kelly 8-20 3-3 19, Hathaway 0-0 0-0 0, Okoronkwo 0-0 0-0 0, Fernandes 1-4 2-3 4. TOTALS: 29-68 10-19 74.
Halftime: Fort Scott, 36-27.
Three-point field goals: Independence 8-31 (Codio 3-7, Dorris 2-6, Hines 1-2, Halvorsen 1-3, Marshall 1-9, Webb 0-1, Johnson 0-1, Plowman 0-2), Fort Scott 6-16 (Shepard 4-9, Doomes-Stephens 2-6, Duplechin 0-1).
Total fouls: Independence 17, Fort Scott 18. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none.
Rebounds: Independence 47 (Halvoersen 11), Fort Scott 49 (Doomes-Stephens 17). Assists: Independence 12 (Codio 4), Fort Scott 14 (Doomes-Stephens 6) Turnovers: Independence 12, Fort Scott 17. Steals: Independence 6 (Marshall 4), Fort Scott 8 (Doomes-Stephens 3). Blocked shots: Independence none, Fort Scott 1 (Doomes-Stephens).