A sluggish first quarter was too much to overcome for the Allen Community College Lady Devils.
ACC fell victim to its seventh consecutive loss against Coffeyville on Saturday at home, losing 89-79. But if the ball bounced the Devils way early on, the result may have been different.
We just missed so many layups at the beginning, head coach Rachel Janzen said. I was just counting how many untouched/uncontested easy putbacks or layups were missing. I got up to six or seven before I stopped counting, and by that time it was 2-12.
Coffeyville led 23-13 after beating the buzzer with a 3-point bomb to close the first quarter. The Red Ravens stretched their lead to 13 when ACC decided to punch back. A 7-0 Lady Devil run brought ACC within six. Moments later, Brandi Jordan fired from beyond the arc to bring ACC within three.
Despite the second-quarter push, ACC trailed 36-32 heading into the locker room for the second half.
The Red Ravens started the third by stretching their lead back to 10, but ACCs Zariah Sango provided an answer for each Coffeyville basket. Three straight mid-range jumpers from Sango kept ACC within striking distance in the third.
Sango finished with 17 points on 7/15 from the floor and 8 rebounds.
She has been playing really WELL, and is starting to get more comfortable with her post moves, Janzen said. She still missed quite of few of them, but is starting to understand the feel of it better.
In the fourth, ACC searched for away to gain the lead, but the mountain stood too tall to climb. The Lady Devils came within five after a floater in the lane from Ariel Walker, but that was the closest ACC would come the rest of the way.
The Lady Devils had no answer for Coffeyvilles Faith Simpson, who finished with 31 points and 17 rebounds.
We could not stop 30 (Simpson), Janzen said. 30 is a very nice player and we could not contain her. We were trying man-to-man and zone defense, but we just couldnt control her today.
Ahead by seven, Coffeyville executed an 8-1 run to pull away by 14 points with two minutes to go, and stood firm while earning the 89-79 victory.
Walkers performance was the biggest bright spot for ACC. The second-year guard finished with a team-high 19 points along with 9 rebounds and 4 assists.
But the Lady Devils are going to need even more from Walker and the rest of the girls moving forward. With the loss, ACC sits at 6-12 overall and 1-8 in conference play.
ACC will get the chance to snap its losing skid on Wednesday when they travel to Concordia for a matchup with Cloud County.
