The Coffeyville women's basketball team picked up their fourth straight victory 73-56, while the men got back into the win column 87-63 against Cloud County on Wednesday night.
Coming off just one day of rest, the Coffeyville women came out slowly and traded buckets with a Thunderbirds squad that had lost three straight prior to the matchup. However, Coffeyville would use a small run near the end of the second quarter to head into halftime with a 39-31 lead. The third quarter would be the deciding moment in the game, with Coffeyville scoring 12 unanswered points to begin the second half to push the lead out to 20. From that point on, although things would be relatively even for the rest of the game, Cloud County would never threaten the lead again. Ania Markowska picked up her second straight double-double, with 11 points and 14 rebounds. McKenzie Murrel-Patton (11), Julia Calafell (11), and Alana Kramer (10) would join Markowska with double-digit performances.
The men's affair was awfully similar to the women's game in terms of Coffeyville starting out slow. The Red Ravens played without the guidance of head coach Jay Herkelman, who was suspended due to his ejection against Cowley on Monday. With assistant coach Kyle Campbell at the helm, Coffeyville would need a bit to get going, but a late first-half run gave Coffeyville its first double-digit lead of the game just before halftime at 37-27. That would be as close as Cloud County would get for the rest of the contest, as Coffeyville would show a much improved defense and great shot selection. The Red Ravens shot 61 percent from the field in the second half, and waltzed to an eventual 24-point victory. Manny Crump led the team in scoring with 25 points on 10-13 shooting. He was joined by the usual suspects of Tony Hutson (15) and Meikkel Murray (12).
The Coffeyville men and women will have one more game each this week, coming up this Saturday against Allen County. That game will be broadcast on US98.1 KUSN, with tip-off for the women at 2 p.m. Pregame will start 10 minutes prior to the start of the first game.
