ACCC women lose at home

More second-half struggles led to another defeat Saturday for Allen County Community College’s wom-en.
Fort Scott shot a blistering 56 percent from the field in the second half to pull away to a 68-41 win.
The loss, coming in Allen County’s regular season home finale, drops the Red Devils to 1-15 in Jayhawk Eastern Division play and 3-24 overall.
Head coach Sacha Santimano said the struggles had as much to do with her team’s mental approach as it did X’s and O’s.
“The bottom line is that when they start believing in themselves, they’ll have success on the basketball court,” Santimano said. “We made 4,000 shots in practice, like we said we were going to, and they moved the ball well. But once we get into the game, the shots stop falling, and they lose confidence.”
The Red Devils stayed within striking distance of visiting Fort Scott Community College into the early portions of the second half.
The Red Devils actually got the early jump on Fort Scott. Rackell Goldson’s three-pointer gave ACCC a 7-2 lead that forced the Greyhounds to call an early timeout.
The timeout apparently did what it was supposed to, sparking a 14-2 Greyhound run that was interrupted only briefly by an Allen County three-pointer to cut the Fort Scott lead to 16-12. The trey led to another 12-3 run for the Greyhounds, who led 28-15.
Allen County ended the first half with six straight points. Aeriss McNeese and Walker scored baskets early in the second half. Walker cut the Fort Scott lead to 31-25 at the 17-minute mark.
That was as close as they would get.
Fort Scott scored 12 unanswered points — many coming from passes inside to Greyhound post players — to open a 43-25 lead, a cushion that never dipped below 16 points again. The margin grew to 20 by the 11:45 mark.
“I have no doubt in my mind these girls have the talent to win,” Santimano said. “But it starts with ourselves.”
Goldson led Allen County with 15 points before fouling out. Maurissa Shaffer dished out five assists. Nicole Swick had six rebounds.
Fort Scott had four players in double figures. Kendra Mattox and Staci Carter scored 15 points apiece. Jolee Sharp added 13 and Kerenza Singletary 10.
The Greyhounds shot 52 percent from the field; Allen County just 28 percent. Fort Scott held a 41 to 31 edge in rebounding and hit 14 of 24 free throws. The Red Devils were 5 of 10 from the line.
The Red Devils wrap up regular season action this week with games in Independence Wednesday and Saturday at Cowley County.
Fort Scott (28-40—68) (FG/3-pt): Crow 0/1-0-2-3, Young 0-1-0-1, Sharp 4-5-1-13, Singletary 5-0-4-10, Mattox 5/1-2-15, Carter 6-3-2-15, Baker 3-1-1-7, Bonaparte 1-2-1-4. TOTALS: 24/2-14-13-68.
Allen County (21-20—41) (FG/3-pt): Shaffer 1-0-1-2, Walker 2/1-1-3-8, Wolf 0-0-3-0, Swick 0-0-3-0, Goldson 3/2-3-5-15, Best 0/1-0-3-3, McNeese 1-0-0-2, Johnson 1-1-1-3, Nisbett 3-0-0-6. TOTALS: 12/4-5-19-41.