The College of the Ozarks Lady Bobcats made the trip to Overland Park, Kansas Tuesday to face the Falcons of Kansas Christian College. The Lady Cats had defeated the Falcons 92-40 in an earlier meeting but would be without the services of starting guard Jordan Wersinger for this matchup.

The basket was elusive for both teams, as defense was the name of the game in the early going. The Falcons scored first, but not until nearly two minutes had ticked off the clock. The Lady Cat defense continued to do the job, and with 5:23 left in the opening frame, Taylor rush drained a three to get the Lady Cats on the board. A Kayley Frank basket followed a minute later and the Lady Cats led 5-2. The Falcons didn’t score again until the 3:38 mark and a Katie Mayes three was followed by an Annie Noah basket to put the lady cats up 10-4. Isabel Rohlfing broke into the scoring column with a basket and Avery Arnold drained a three as time expired to give the Lady Cats an 18-9 lead at the quarter break.  

The Falcons continued to stay close as their defense held the Lady Cats scoreless until a Taylor Rush bucket broke through at the 8:43 mark. A pair of Falcon baskets cut the lead to 20-13 Before Avery Arnold drained a three, Annie Noah and Taylor Rush scored, and Kayley Frank nailed a pair from the charity stripe for a 9-0 Lady Cat run. The Falcons broke their offensive silence with a basket at the 4:49 mark but the Lady Cats had taken control of the contest, 29-14. Rush, Noah, and Frank combined for another 12-4 run and the Lady Cats continued to pull away. Jada Henry added a pair of free throws to close out the Lady Cat scoring and the Falcons combined a pair of baskets with a trio of free throws to send the game to the intermission with the Lady Cats leading 43-25.

The teams traded baskets in the opening minutes of the third quarter with Mayes, Frank, and Noah leading the Lady Cat offensive charge. Blythe Benefield scored at the 6:41 mark and the Lady Cat lead grew to 52-29. KCC continued to battle but the Lady Cat effort was too much to overcome. The lead slowly continued to grow and with threes by Arnold and Benefield, along with baskets by Frank, Noah, and another Benefield two, the lead expanded to 64:34 with 2:07 remaining in the frame. Susanna Moran broke into the scoring column with a pair of free throws and Frank added a basket but a pair of Falcon Baskets to close out the quarter kept the gap the same.

The fourth quarter consisted of trading baskets and the Lady Cats taking advantage of opportunities to focus on defense and specific offensive strategies. The Falcons continued to challenge but the Lady Cat consistency was not to be overcome. As time rolled off the clock, the Lady Cat lead was maintained and the 82-54 win was secured.

Kayley Frank led all scorers with 17 points, and also pulled down seven rebounds to go with six assists. Annie Noah recorded another double-double with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Taylor Rush threw in 13 points as well. Avery Arnold and Blythe Benefield contributed nine points each. Jada Henry and Susanna Moran each added six, Katie Mayes tacked on five, and Isabel Rohlfing added four.

The Lady Cats will head to Ecclesia College Saturday, to take on the Royals in a 12 PM start.