Dodge City women traveled to Independence to take on the top team in the KJCCC and the Conquistadors comeback attempt fell just a bit short on the road as the Conqs suffered a 57-55 loss to the Pirates. 

The loss moves the Conqs to 15-11 on the season and 10-10 in Jayhawk Conference action with four more games left in the regular season. 

It was nip and tuck early and throughout the first quarter of action as both teams struggled to find a rhythm and groove with their offense and the Conqs would hold a 13-12 advantage at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the offense nearly went fully stagnate for Conqs as they were outscored 19-9 in the quarter and trailed 31-22 at intermission. In the third quarter, both teams struggled but ultimately Independence managed to add to their lead and be up 40-29 with 10 minutes remaining. In the fourth quarter, the Conqs came alive and made a run drawing within five points with two minutes left in the game after Jada Burton's steal and layup. Conqs managed to get a pair of free throws from Destinee Paulk to make it a one-point game at 56-55 with 3.9 seconds left and after two fouls Independence split a pair of free throws and the Conqs were unable to get a shot off before the buzzer falling 57-55. 

In the loss, the Conqs shot just 31.7% from the floor but defensively they had 15 steals and kept Independence under 40% shooting for the game. 

Paulk paced the Conqs on the night finishing with a team-high 13 points on 5-5 shooting and went 3-3 from the free-throw line. Bree Stephens added 12 points, along with nine rebounds, three steals, and three blocks. 

The Conqs are quickly back in action as they host Colby on Wednesday, February 16th at 5:30 pm.