Jamestown Community College women's basketball coach George Sisson was looking at the postgame stat sheet and one thing stood out for his Jayhawks.
''Thirty-two turnovers. That's a lot of points to be giving up,'' he said.
And those points given to the Erie CC Kats helped the visitors record a 70-48 NJCAA Region 3 Division II win over JCC on Saturday afternoon.
Article Photos
Ashley DePane of Jamestown Community College is trapped between two Erie CC players during Saturday's NJCAA Region 3 Division II women's basketball game. See additional photos at cu.post-journal.com.
P-J photo by Jim Riggs
Erie is now 15-3 overall and, more importantly, 8-0 in Region 3 Division II and appears to be picking up where it left off in the region last season when it defeated JCC in the championship game.
JCC is 15-10 and 3-5.
''This team's undefeated (in the region) for a reason,'' Sisson said. ''They're defending regional champs, they've got wonderful players, they've got a good mix of people. They've got bigs, they've got some guard that can handle and shoot a little bit, they've got some complementary players. We know that we can compete when them, we just have to do it longer.''
He knew that after the first time the teams played at Erie. The Lady Kats won by 12 and JCC finished the game with point guard Taylor Storer on the bench after fouling out.
''We can't play like them, we have to play like we want to play and we got out playing the way we wanted to play (on Saturday),'' Sisson said. ''Today was not all lost. We did some things pretty well today, we just didn't sustain them.''
JCC opened with a quick 5-0 lead after 3-pointer by Kelsie Beaver to open the game followed by a 2 by Ashley DePane, and the Jayhawks retained the lead for the first 10 minutes. Then Erie went on a 15-5 run, with seven of the points by Charmaine Weaver, to take a 26-20 lead with a minute left in the half.
The Lady Kats' run was also fueled by plenty of JCC turnovers during that stretch and the Jayhawks finished the half with 21.
Beaver kept JCC in the game as in the final minute she converted two three-point plays and at halftime Erie led, 30-26.
Despite the turnovers, Sisson saw a bright spot.
''At halftime I told them, we had 21 turnovers and we're down four at halftime,'' Sisson said. ''So obviously some of the stuff we were doing was pretty good.''
Erie's leader at halftime was Weaver with 13 points, but Sisson was looking at no points for 6-foot-2 sophomore Alexis Gray.
''Their best player is Gray and I thought I knew where they wanted to get her the ball and get some things done and I thought we did a real good job of putting pressure all around here,'' Sisson said.
And it benefitted Weaver.
''Second-chance points went to Weaver,'' Sisson said. ''She was just the recipient (of all the attention to Gray).''
Immediately in the second half, Gray showed she would be a factor as she scored six of the Lady Kats' first 15 points and they opened with a 15-4 run to take a 15-point lead, 45-30, after five minutes of play.
The Erie press was giving the Jayhawks fits as it led to turnovers and when JCC did get off a shot, it was too quick and off target.
Also in that run, Erie hit three 3-pointers.
''They shot the ball better from the three than I might have given them credit for on our scouting report,'' Sisson said. ''They hit two or three when we were emphasizing inside and they went inside-out on us and hit two or three threes that kind of blew the game open on us.''
The Jayhawks managed to pull within 11, but the Lady Kats responded with a run of 10 straight points, with the first five by Gray, to take a 57-36 lead with eight minutes left and there was no comeback in store for JCC.
Gray led the Lady Kats with 15 points and 10 rebounds while Charmain Weaver had 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Cara Weaver had 14 points.
All of Gray's points came in the second half as size and strength came through.
Sisson attributed her second half to something a former coach once told him.
''Jumpers sometimes quit jumping, speed sometimes slows down, but big, strong bodies just keep plugging along,'' he said. ''In the last 10 minutes of a game, that's when the big bodies start making a difference. I thought she did, she was fresher.''
JCC's leader was DePane with 14 points while Storer had 13 and Beaver collected 12 points and seven rebounds. Brook Dragget was the rebounding leader with nine and Alex Smith had eight.
The Jayhawks were without Lauren Saglimben, who suffered a concussion in the win over Genesee CC on Thursday, and Sisson admitted her absence, not just as a 3-point shooter, made a difference.
''It's another body to keep that rotation fresh,'' Sisson said. ''She can stretch the defense a little bit. Anytime we don't have our full complement of players, it changes us a little bit.''
The Jayhawks return to action on Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. at Niagara County CC in a Region 3 Division II game.
ERIE (70)
Hall 4 2-2 13, CaWeaver 6 2-2 14, Walker 1 0-0 3,Verse 2 0-0 5, Spencer 0 0-0 0, Greer 0 0-0 0, Ballard 0 0-0 0, Kidd 0 2-2 2, ChWeaver 6 1-2 14, Hay 1 0-0 2, Gray 6 3-3 15, Marion 1 0-0 2, Totals 27 10-12 70.
JCC (48)
Storer 5 2-2 13, Beaver 3 5-6 12, Sheldon 0 0-0 0, Biela 1 1-2 3, Draggett 0 0-1 0, DePane 4 4-6 14, Kickbush 0 2-2 2, Smith 1 2-2 4, Nickerson 0 0-0 0, Sands 0 0-0 0, Totals 14 16-21 48.
Halftime-Erie 30, JCC 26. 3-point goals-Hall 3, Walker, Verse, ChWeaver, Storer, Beaver, DePane 2. Total fouls-Erie 18, JCC 13.