Behind a strong second quarter after a slow start, the Dodge City women's basketball team earned a road Jayhawk Conference win over Cloud County 77-69.
The win improves the Conquistadors to 18-2 on the season and 13-1 in KJCCC action.
It was a sluggish start to the afternoon for the Conqs as a
Shorna Preston three-pointer was the only points for the Conqs over the first four and a half minutes leading to an 8-3 deficit against the Thunderbirds of Cloud County. The Conqs would then fall behind 12-5 with just about three and a half minutes remaining in the first quarter. But the Conqs would end the first stanza on an 8-1 run with a three-pointer by
Tayah Morgan in the final 30 seconds to tie the game at 13-13. The slow start continued early in the second quarter as the first three minutes featured just two points by the Thunderbirds. The Conqs finally started to settle in with the bench being the spark as
Morgan Ruff drained a three-pointer to bring the Conqs within one at 19-18 then Ruff netted a layup with five minutes left in the first half to give the Conqs their first lead at 22-21. Ruff's big buckets were part of a 13-0 run by the Conqs to take control of the game going up 31-21 and the Conqs carried a 34-24 lead into halftime.
The Conqsed continually fended off the Thunderbirds throughout the second half to stymie Cloud County's advances, ultimately securing the win 77-69, using the big 21-11 second quarter to be the separation.
On the day, the Conqs shot 44.1% and drained 13 three-pointers, while Cloud County shot just 36.2% and were only 5-24 from outside the arc. Conqs again distributed the ball well, with 21 assists, and also recorded nine blocks on defense.
Layla-J Cameron led Dodge City with 22 points on 8-16 shooting adding eight assists and seven rebounds. Morgan chipped in 13 points on 4-9 shooting from three-point range, while Preston finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
Mia Jordan,
Savi Mi, and Ruff off the bench each tallied eight points and were big in the first half when the Conqs put together their big streak run.
Conqs return home for their next contest as they will take on Cowley on Wednesday, January 29th at 5:30 pm.
