ACCC women come up just short

Hannah Blackwell dropped in two free throws but her coach didn’t see the basketball go through the net either time. Blackwell’s charities forced a 51-51 tie between Allen County Community College’s Red Devils and the visiting Pratt Community College Beavers.
There was just 1:36 left in Tuesday’s game. Unfortunately, the Beavers’ Whitney Bates had the go-ahead basket, then sank four free throws to put her team up 57-51 with 19 seconds on the clock.
The Red Devils weren’t ready to give up. Kayla Morton, who led all scorers with 13 points, got a putback, then Allen County sent Bates back to the free-throw line. This time Bates missed on a one-and-one with 9.2 seconds left and Morton drained a three-pointer with 2.5 seconds followed by Allen County’s final time out.
Hayli Jo Smith hit one of two free throws to put Pratt in front 58-56. Allen County didn’t get a shot off before the buzzer and lost by two.
“In practices Hannah was struggling hitting free throws while I was watching her. She said I made her nervous so I turned my back on her and she hit free throws. So now in games, I turn away,” said Mark James, ACCC first-year head coach.
“I have no complaints about our first half tonight and very, very little to complain about in the second half. We’re just going through the growing pains of being a young team with a first-year head coach.”
After falling behind 18-10 by the 12:20 mark of the first half, the Red Devils went on a 14-0 run. They held Pratt scoreless for seven minutes and gained a 24-18 lead with 5:23 left.
Allen County fended off a couple of runs by the Beavers to lead 33-27 at halftime. Morton hit a shot with two seconds on the clock.
Rackell Goldson drilled a three-pointer for ACCC to give it a 36-29 lead early in the second half. The Beavers came back to knot the score at 36-all by the 12:14 mark.
Maggie Stithem stuck her second three-pointer followed by a trey from Brittney Redmond to push Allen County back in front. Midway through the second half, Allen County was up by two, then Miracle Davis finished a conventional three-point play for ACCC.
Pratt continued to chip away and finally pulled even again. Then it was back and forth until the final minute of the game.
“We are a talented group but very inexperienced. This was a very good effort and our girls bought into playing hard for 40 minutes. We hit shots in the first half but in the second half we missed some shots,” James said.
Pointing to 9 of 19 at the free-throw line, James said his team can be very good at the line but also have games like Tuesday night.
“We’re just not to the point of really finishing a game. That will come,” he said. “This was a great effort by our players. With all these freshmen, we’re going to have inconsistency.
“If our kids play hard for 40 minutes or I get out-coached, I can live with that. Right now, we’re finding ourselves as a team and as a program.”
Allen County shot 37 percent, 20 of 54, from the field and drilled seven three-pointers.
Goldson added 12 points for Allen County. Goldson and Davis each had seven rebounds. Davis and Morton came up with six steals apiece and Davis dished out five assists.
The Red Devils had 14 turnovers and 16 steals. Pratt owned a 44 to 27 edge in rebounding.
Pratt was led by 6-2 post player Cari Guyton with 12 points. Sarah Johnson hit three three-pointers for nine points. Pratt shot 43 percent, 22 of 51, from the field and went 10 of 17 from the line. The Beavers had 24 turnovers.
It was the second time the two teams played this season. Pratt beat Allen County 68-42 in the season opener on Nov. 1. James said that first game was closer than the score indicated. “It just got away from us at the end.”
Allen County (2-6) plays at Oklahoma Wesleyan in Bartlesville, Okla., next Wednesday.
Allen County (33-23—56) (FG/3-pt): Morton 4/1-2-4-13, Goldson 3/2-0-2-12, Stithem 0/2-0-0-6, Jones 1/1-0-0-5, Davis 1-3-2-5, Redmond 1/1-0-0-5, Peel 2-1-3-5, Blackwell 1-3-3-5. TOTALS: 13/7-9-16-56.
Pratt (27-31—58) (FG/3-pt): Guyton 6-0-3-12, Johnson 0/3-0-3-9, Bates 2-4-2-8, Smith 2-2-1-6, Strobel 2-0-2-4, Richardson 0-0-2-0, Ashley Broadwater 1-4-3-6, Mehl 3-0-1-6, Leis 0-0-1-0, Parks 1-0-1-2, Pauly 1/1-0-1-5. TOTALS: 18/4-10-19-58.