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Greyhounds rally late to beat Blue Devils
Fort Scott Community College head women's basketball coach Diana Couch didn't join her team in the locker room at halftime of Saturday afternoon's game against Kansas City Kansas at Arnold Arena. There was no need to because she would have only told them the same thing they'd been hearing for nearly three weeks.
The Greyhounds have been a terrible first-half team recently and Saturday was the second time in three games they went into the locker room at the half with only 14 points on the scoreboard. Then, in the second half, they slowly come around and play better. But by that time, it's been too late.
Saturday afternoon was a case of better late than never as the 'Hounds used a 19-4 run in the final 6:07 to rally for a 53-44 victory, breaking a three-game losing streak.
"I don't know what it is," Couch said. "People have been telling us, 'Great job, coach, awesome comeback,' and I think, 'That's all we've been doing is trying to come back at the end.'"
The big difference Saturday was that Fort Scott (2-6 Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division, 10-10 overall) played well enough defensively to keep KCK (2-7, 11-9) within shouting distance.
But early on, the 'Hounds fell behind mostly because they were rebounding very poorly. The overall count was about even but Fort Scott was not getting any offensive rebounds. And when a team doesn't get offensive rebounds, it can't get a second chance to score on a possession.
Basically a shot would go up and no one in a white home uniform would go to the basket to follow up.
Fortunately, Kansas City wasn't taking advantage of its rebounding bounty as the Greyhounds played well enough on defense that they actually exceeded a pre-game goal by holding the Blue Devils to 25 points in the first half (the goal was 28 points).
Thus, despite their problems, Fort Scott trailed by only 11 points at the half, 25-14. Compare that to last Saturday's game at Labette where the deficit was 18 points -- and grew larger early in the second half -- or Wednesday at Highland, where the halftime deficit was 17.
After the 'Hound players came back out of the locker room for the second half, three things happened to swing the momentum:
* Starting the half with a 8-2 run, which brought the 'Hounds within 27-22 with 15:53 remaining.
* Rebounding much, much better. In the second half, Fort Scott outrebounded KCK 31-13.
* Shadara Hampton and Brittany Demery stepped up. They were a combined 2 of 9 from the field in the first half. In the second half, they combined to make 7 of 15 shots and score 25 points.
Kansas City made only 2 of its first 12 field-goal attempts in the second half as the 'Hounds kept chipping away at the deficit. They were within 6 points, 40-34 with 6:20 remaining. Then Hampton hit a 3-point shot, got fouled and made the free throw to convert a rare 4-point play. Valencia Kelly tied the score with a pair of free throws.
Hampton followed up with another 3-pointer from the left wing. Kasey Teich made two free throws to make it 45-40 with 3:06 to go.
Shannon Carlin scored KCK's only basket in the final 6 minutes. Then the 'Hounds scored 8 straight points to make it 53-42 before Alyssa Rushton hit a pair of free throws for the Blue Devils with 4/10ths of a second to go.
Demery scored 14 of her game-high 16 points in the second half. Hampton finished with 15 points -- 11 in the second half -- 5 assists and 3 steals. Valencia Kelly scored 12 points even though she made only 5 of 22 shots from the field and did not make a 3-point shot for the fourth straight game.
"Shadara was struggling and I think the team carried her," Couch said. "I think she's out of her slump now.
"The team understood tonight that we need everybody. That was our philosophy at the beginning of the year. We strayed away from it in the last few games."
Rushton and Sarah Craft scored 10 points each for KCK, which made only 7 of 27 shots from the field in the second half.
Field-goal percentages were not outstanding. Fort Scott made 27 percent of its shots overall on 17 of 63. KCK made 29 percent overall on 18 of 62. But the Greyhounds made 14 of 20 free throws while KCK was only 2 of 3 -- and didn't shoot its first free throw until there were less than two minutes remaining in the contest.
Fort Scott finished with a 57-35 rebounding advantage, the most rebounds the 'Hounds have had this season. Demery had 13 boards, Kelly 11 and Tashanda Jackson brought down 10.
"We have been stressing that all week," Couch said. "I noticed that a shot goes off and everybody does their own thing. I've had to remind the posts, 'What's your job? You're not a shooter; you're not a passer; you're a rebounder.' So we've been out in practice with the pads. We've been beating them up because they have to finish. As soon as the ball comes down, they have to go back up with it. And I think that really helped us this week."
The Greyhounds will host Coffeyville at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday night. They played Neosho County at Chanute Monday night.
KANSAS CITY KANSAS: Belousova 1-4 0-0 3, Wilson 0-2 0-0 0, Wham 1-2 0-0 3, Carlin 4-8 0-0 9, Phipps 1-5 0-0 2, Davis 0-4 0-0 0, Rushton 3-13 2-3 10, Rowan 1-6 0-0 3, Craft 5-11 0-0 10, Schreiber 2-7 0-0 4. TOTALS: 18-62 2-3 44.
FORT SCOTT: Stambaugh 0-0 0-0 0, Bloodworth 0-1 0-0 0, Teich1-6 2-2 5, Hampton 4-13 3-5 15, Mattox 1-5 0-0 2, Demery 5-11 6-7 16, Kelly 5-11 2-2 12, Hathaway 0-1 1-4 1, Okoronkow 0-2 0-0 0, Jackson 1-2 0-0 2. TOTALS: 17-63 14-20 53.
Halftime: Kansas City Kansas, 25-14.
Three-point field goals: Kansas City Kansas 6-20 (Rushton 2-9, Wham 1-1, Carlin 1-2, Belousova 1-3, Rowan 1-3, Wilson 0-1, Davis 0-1), Fort Scott 5-23 (Hampton 4-8, Teich 1-6, Demery 0-2, Kelly 0-7).
Total fouls: Kansas City Kansas 19, Fort Scott 14. Fouled out: none. Technical fouls: none.
Rebounds: Kansas City Kansas 35 (Phipps 7), Fort Scott 57 (Demery 13, Kelly 11, Jackson 10). Assists: Kansas City Kansas 7 (Rushton 3), Fort Scott 7 (Hampton 5). Turnovers: Kansas City Kansas 16, Fort Scott 17. Steals: Kansas City Kansas 15 (Rushton 5), Fort Scott 10 (Hampton 3). Blocked shots: Kansas City Kansas 2 (Carlin, Rushton), Fort Scott 2 (Hathaway 2).