KCKCC home Saturday as conference play resumes

By ALAN HOSKINS

KANSAS CITY, KAN. ---- The 2014-15 Kansas City Kansas Community College basketball season begins in earnest Saturday afternoon when the Blue Devils host Brown Mackie.

Except for a home non-conference doubleheader Tuesday, all of the Blue Devils’ remaining games are against Jayhawk Conference opponents.

It’s a fast start for the Blue Devils, who will play five games in 11 days before the start of the Spring Semester starting with the 2 and 4 p.m. contests against Brown Mackie Saturday.

The Lady Blue Devils will take the No. 10 national ranking in Division II into the opener. Winner of five in a row, the Blue Devils are 1-0 in conference play and 12-1 overall with their only loss to unbeaten Hutchinson (14-0), which is ranked No. 2 in Division I. Brown Mackie is 2-2 in league play and 10-6 overall.

Averaging 88.8 points a game, the Blue Devils have seven players averaging seven or more points a game – Cierra Gaines (15.9), Cheyenne North (11.8), Cassie Harbert (10.5), Erin Anderson (8.5), Jamai Mitchell (8.1), Rashaun Casey (7.4) and Sierra Roberts (7.2). Harbert leads in assists with 6.53 per game while leading rebounders are North (7.6), Harbert (5.7) and Anderson (5.5).

The KCKCC men, who dropped their only Jayhawk decision to Labette 81-78, and are 9-4 overall, will have three new players available for Saturday’s 4 p.m. start – 6-2 sophomore guard Babajide Aina from Garland, Tex.; 6-4 freshman forward Brett Hamilton of Mill Valley; and 6-6 freshman forward Lashawn Lewis of Henry Cotton High School in Chicago. The defending Division II champion, Brown Mackie is 10-5 overall and 2-2 in the league.

Former Bishop Ward standout CJ Vallejo leads the Blue Devils in scoring with an 18.6-point average followed by freshmen Joe Lendway (15.2), Austin Hall (11.5) and soph Ray Ridley (8.2). Ridley leads in assists with 6.6 per game while Hall (4.9) and Lendway (4.8) lead in rebounding.