Lady Saints Force Pirates to Walk the Plank

Liberal, Kansas – Illness and injuries put the Lady Saints a few players short on their road trip to Independence, but they had more than enough to punish the Pirates as Seward County moved in front in the opening minutes and never took their foot off the gas, knocking off Independence 65-53 on the road to complete the season sweep and move back in front in the KJCCC standings.

An 8-0 run to start the game for the Lady Saints capped by a mid-range jumper from Kayla Peoples allowed Seward County to set the tone early in the contest. Allie Myers entered into the game and immediately used her high-level rebounding to grab some offensive rebounds and put the ball back in the rim to keep SCCC ahead of their Pirate foes midway through the first. Biyyanah Ellis pushed the ball ahead to an open Ari Gordon on a fast break who managed to fake out her defender and score and easy two that gave Seward County a 14-11 lead entering the second quarter.

Jamia Carter slashed her way to the basket where she found an open Myers on the block for a layup that grew the SCCC lead back to five before a knockdown triple from Xoe Rosalez in the corner kept their advantage strong. Kezia Grant-Bobb had a career game in her alst outing at Colby and kept her scoring going with a strong offensive putback for the Lady Saints to put their lead at 24-17 midway through the second before wrapping up the first half 33-24 thanks to a big high-low score from Gordon to Myers.

Seward County and Independence matched point for point in the third with Carter continuing to make her way to the basket for her team with multiple layups in the opening minutes. Peoples sank in a long-range triple from the top of the arc to put the Lady Saints ahead by double figures and another post score by Myers on the block kept it growing. Carter found Gordon at the free throw line in open space and after pump faking her defender, she passed them by and sunk in a floater to enter the final quarter ahead 48-39.

Rosalez connected again from deep for a triple to open the fourth and give Seward County a double figure lead 51-41 over the Pirates and a few minutes later she nailed another three to keep their lead strong. A floater from Gordon off the feed from Peoples put their advantage far in front and the Pirates sunk with their ship as the Lady Saints grabbed a hard-fought win 65-53 over Independence.

Seward County now places themselves in the win column once again to improve to 15-14 on the 2023-24 season and 11-12 in Jayhawk conference action. The Lady Saints will return home for their final regular season matchup as they take on the Pratt Beavers on sophomore night this upcoming Wednesday before preparing for postseason action the following Saturday.