Colby advances to the Region VI Quarterfinals

COLBY, Kan. - Trojans win, Trojans win! On Saturday, the Trojans women's basketball team traveled to Concordia, KS, to take on the Cloud County Community College Thunderbirds in the first round of the NJCAA Region 6 basketball tournament. The Trojans advanced with a 56-55 victory over Cloud County and improved to 16-15 overall. Colby will now travel to ninth-ranked Hutchinson Community College on Tuesday, March 11th, with tip-off scheduled for 5:30 pm CT. 

It was a back-and-forth game from start to finish. One team would make a run and build a lead, while the other would make their own run to retake the lead, which went on for the entire game. Both teams are known for their solid defensive play and an ability to create offense in spurts.  

In the fourth quarter, Cloud built a nine-point lead, only to see the visitors from Colby come roaring back, making defensive stops and creating open shots and free throws.  

With three seconds left in the game and Trojans ball under their own basket, Colby executed their in-bounds set to find Dessirae Ulmer under the basket for the go ahead score with just:00.08 on the clock. A turnover by Cloud gave the ball back to the Trojans, and the game was over. A hard-fought one-point win sends the Trojans on to the next round and a game at ninth-ranked Hutchinson Community College, the conference co-champions and defending national champions.  

"I'm so excited for and very proud of this group. We sure don't run to comfort ever and find ways to make something out of nothing. We have been battling on the road this year but coming up short.  Today, we picked a great time to finish it off.  We beat a very good team with a tough tradition of winning home games. It's never easy to beat Cloud, and the togetherness of this "WE DO" group showed.   We will enjoy this one and then get ready for the next.  It's been a while since Colby has won a playoff game, so we will embrace this and prepare for the next," added coach Spence.  

Colby will travel to the Sports Arena in Hutchinson, KS to take on the Blue Dragons on Tuesday, March 11th at 5:30 pm CT.