Lady Saints-Red Ravens Preview

LIBERAL, Kan. – It will be a battle for third place in the Jayhawk Conference when the Seward County Community College women's basketball team hosts Coffeyville Community College at 2 p.m. on Saturday in the Greenhouse.

TopVolt Solar is the gameday sponsor. Tickets are available at Hutch's (both locations in Liberal), Community Bank and Pizza Hut.

There is currently a three-way tie for third in the Jayhawk with Seward, Coffeyville and Butler all at 6-3. The three teams trail Hutchinson and Dodge City, who are tied for first, each at 9-0.

The Lady Saints are 11-4 overall and undefeated at home with an 8-0 mark. Seward Head Coach Will Marchino stressed the importance of defending home court as well as the battle in the conference.

"The importance of this game is two-fold," Marchino said. "We're trying to defend our home court, going 9-0 at the Greenhouse this season. And we're trying to take third in the standings with a win over Coffeyville."

The top four teams will earn a first-round bye in the Region VI playoffs.

The Lady Saints and Red Ravens split last season, each winning at home. Seward won at the Greenhouse, 62-44, and lost at Coffeyville, 57-37.

Seward has won seven of its last nine games, including an 85-35 rout over Independence on Wednesday.

The Lady Saints suffered through a slow start against the Pirates, trailing by as many as 10 in the first quarter before taking over the rest of the game. Independence scored 18 points, holding an 18-10 lead after the first quarter, but the Seward defense clamped down. The Pirates were held to 17 points over the final three quarters.

Seward should be at full strength against Coffeyville. SCCC was missing two starters in Kylee Hunt, the team's leading scorer, and Kezia Grant-Bobb in Wednesday's game.

"The team is healthy," Marchino said. "We expect to have everybody. We're ready to go."

Seward is led by Kyle Hunt (13.6 ppg., 4.5 rpg.), Ari Gordon (9.6 ppg., 4.8 rpg.), Avery Marchino (9.3 ppg., 3.6 rpg.) and Allie Myers (7.9 ppg., 7.8 rpg.)

Coffeyville, which has split its last six games, beat Pratt, 70-44, at home on Wednesday. Norika Welch had 20 points, including 4-of-7 from three-point range, and Karys Washington added 10 points for the Red Ravens, who are 11-3 overall.

According to Marchino, Coffeyville is a grind-it-out team.

"Coffeyville is a gritty team," Marchino said. "(Red Ravens Head Coach) Tony Turner does a great job. They do a terrific job rebounding the basketball and shoot the ball at a high percentage from two, a little bit over 40 percent."

The Red Ravens have balanced scoring with three players averaging double-figures in Welch (12 ppg.), Washington (11.1 ppg.) and Karliey Parker (10.4 ppg.) Coffeyville gets to the boards, averaging 43 rpg., with Washington leading the way with 9.1 rebounds. Aubrey Hishaw (5.0 rpg.), Welch (4.5 rpg.) and Alexis Parker (4.0) round out the Coffeyville rebounders.

"(Coffeyville) is very post-oriented," Marchino said. "They love to get into their high-low actions. We're going to have to be able to defend that well without just giving up layups. We have to rebound and match or exceed their toughness and get out and run in transition."