Late-game heroics, plus some stoic defense, helped both the Coffeyville men's and women's basketball teams to victories over Garden City Wednesday evening.

 

The women were up first, and it was clear that both teams would have their work cut out for them offensively. Coffeyville held the Broncbusters to just 6 points in the first quarter, and although things would pick up slightly in the second quarter, it would be just a 24-23 Garden City lead at the half. Things didn't look good for the Red Ravens out of the locker rooms-- Garden City found plenty of success in the post en route to building an 8-point lead for the final quarter of play. However, it would be Coffeyville who got the last laugh. With 5.5 seconds left to play, and the Red Ravens trailing by 1 at 48-47, Paige Scott picked a big moment to get her first points of the game.

 

A final effort for Garden City would fall short, and the Coffeyville women would take the 50-48 victory. Faith Simpson led all Ravens scorers with 11, all of which came in the second half.

 

The Coffeyville men, much like the women, came out strong and early against the Broncbusters. Although the team couldn't seem to eclipse a 9-point lead early in the first half, the Ravens excelled at keeping Garden City at arm's length. The team would finally acquire its first double-digit lead late in the first half, and would make it 12 at the break. Coming into the second half, it seemed that Coffeyville would begin to pull away as they often do. The lead would grow to as large as 17 as the Ravens continued to force the Broncbusters into mistakes. However, Garden City would catch fire from beyond the arc, scoring their first 15 points of the half from beyond the three-point line. Coffeyville would see its lead shrink down to as small as 1, but a Perry 3-pointer and some big stops on the defensive side of the ball finally pushed the momentum back into the team's favor. The men went on to win by 8, 72-64.

 

Coffeyville forced Garden City to commit 23 turnovers, which translated into a whopping 31 points for the Red Ravens. Perry led the Ravens with 16 points, and much like Simpson in the preceding contest, all of those points came in the second half. Larry White also added 15 points to the scoring effort.

 

Coffeyville's men improve to 5-0 on the season and remain unbeaten in Jayhawk Conference play. The women improved their record to 3-1 and 2-1 in the conference. Both teams will be in action