Red Devil women falter at home

“Close is not good enough,” said Allen County Community College women’s basketball head coach Marcus Hicks.
Coach Hicks was not pleased about his team losing 66-62 to visiting Dodge City Community College Tuesday. He said the Red Devils lack full-game intensity.
“We won the second half but we dug ourselves a hole that we couldn’t get out of in the first half,” Hicks said. “We don’t come out and play for 40 minutes, maybe 20 or 30 minutes but not a full game.”
Dodge City opened on a 6-2 run and was able to maintain its lead throughout the game. A three–pointer by Rackell Goldson pulled the Red Devils to within six again, 18-12, with 11:43 left.
Dodge City went on an 8-2 run to bump the margin back up. Down 26-14, the Red Devils battled back as Goldson hit another trey and had two free throws while Queona Walker had two charities  in the span. The Red Devils trimmed the gap to 26-21 with 3:42 left in the first half.
Dodge City was able to withstand the ACCC surge. The Lady Conquistadors led 35-25 at halftime.
The Lady Conquistadors opened the second half on a 8-0 run. Midway through the second half, Dodge City still was up by 10, 50-40.
With 3:54 left to play, Walker hit both ends of a one-and-one. She then scored off a defensive rebound by Jazmynn Johnson. Allen County was within seven, 59-52, and had the basketball.
Danielle Best’s three-pointer was off but the Red Devil defense got the ball back. Goldson scored and Hicks called a timeout with 1:34 left. It was 59-54.
Kayla Jensen, who was 12 of 13 at the free-throw line for Dodge City, sank two charities. J. Johnson scored for Allen County then Kynesha Nisbett knocked down four consecutive free throws.
Allen County trailed 61-60 with 27.6 seconds on the clock. But it was Jensen who sank four free throws for Dodge City to close the door.
After the first two, Walker’s three to tie was off the mark. Jensen sank the next two. Goldson scored with 3.7 seconds and Kayla Payton hit one of two charities with just under three seconds on the clock.
“Our goal was to keep them off the free-throw line. Again we send a team to the line, what, 25 times and they hit 20 of them. That’s the game right there,” Hicks said.
“We’re still telling them the same things ‘stop reaching, move your feet.’”
Goldson paced the Red Devils with 20 points. Nisbett had 12 points and Walker added 10. Allen County shot 39 percent, 19 of 49, from the field and hit 19 of 21 free throws.
Jensen led Dodge City with 24 points. Treshay Adams had 12 followed by Shameena Johnson with 11 and Amanda Casey with 10. Dodge City was 22 of 47, 47 percent, from the field.
Allen County (2-5) hosts Pratt next Tuesday at 6 p.m.
Sophomore Aeriss McNeese did not suit up for the game. Hicks said no comment on the reason why McNeese did not play.
Allen County (25-37—62) (FG/3-pt): Shaffer 0-0-2-0, Walker 3-4-3-10, Wolf 0-0-4-0, Swick 2-2-3-6, Goldson 3/4-2-2-20, Best 0/1-2-3-5, Johnson 3-3-1-9, Nisbett 3-6-3-12. TOTALS: 14/5-19-21-62.
Dodge City (35-31—66) (FG/3-pt): Johnson 4-3-4-11, Jensen 3/2-12-2-24, Adams 4-4-4-12, Payton 1-1-2-3, White 0-0-1-0, Casey 5-0-2-10, Hall 0-0-2-0, Papaleo 3-0-2-6. TOTALS: 20/2-20-19-66.