Spartan women drop two at KC

On Friday night, the Spartans faced host KCK in a 78-48 loss before taking on No. 7-ranked Johnson County for the second time in a week and falling, 68-34.

After a sluggish start Friday, falling behind 11-0, the Spartans played a solid game after intermission, according to coach Brett Gilcrist. Southwestern shot 46 percent from the field in the second half, but couldn’t slow down the KCK shooters hitting 46 percent from 3-point range.

The Spartans were led offensively by sophomore Jamee Miner and freshman Darian Polson of Des Moines, both with nine oints. Miner also had a team-high eight assists and Polson led the team with seven rebounds. Sophomore Brittany Clark added five rebounds.

“I was not happy with the energy we showed up with today, but I give our girls credit for how hard they competed,” Gilcrist said. “KCK shot the lights out tonight and really forced us to pick our poison.”

Down 47-9 to Johnson County at halftime Saturday afternoon, SWCC recovered to own a 25-21 advantage in the second half.

“We worked extremely hard on the defensive end to contest shot and rebound the basketball in the second half,” Gilcrist said. “Offensively, we began to pass the ball more cleanly to one another and stopped making silly ball-handling mistakes.”

Freshman Jaraylia Knight of Pontiac, Mich., led SWCC with 11 points and Polson chipped in eight points and seven rebounds. Miner had a good overall game with six rebounds and leading the team in steals and assists while scoring four points.

“This tale of two halves that we keep playing is very troubling as a coach,” Gilcrist said. “I do not understand why it takes us an entire half to realize the speed and tempo of the game and how we need to adjust. Hopefully we will learn from that second half that we can play with anyone if we work extremely hard on the defensive end to communicate, contest shots, and rebound the basketball while playing an unselfish, conservative game on offense.”