MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Led by lone sophomore Alexis Ayers' 29 points, the Milwaukee Area Technical College women's basketball team was able to keep things close Thursday night against Kankakee Community College during their Sophomore Night before a 18-7 Cavaliers' run to close out the final nine minutes forced them to suffer a 74-59 home defeat.

The double-digit home loss in NJCAA Region 4 action moved MATC to 8-18 and 2-6 at home.

"I almost feel like I'm in the wrong business," Stormers head coach Arom Murrell said. "I should be a psychic because I said at the beginning of the game that we have to play a full game and that's exactly what happened tonight. We only played three quarters."

Trailing 56-49, MATC freshman Chloey Bynum immediately connected on a 3-pointer off an assist by Ayers to begin the fourth quarter, which put the Stormers in position to get within two possessions after falling behind as much as 17 in the second half. Following Bynum's silky outside shot, the Stormers' offense went completely stale, in part due to a brief absence of Ayers' due to an injury. Ayers went out with a leg injury at the 8:27 mark before returning a little over a minute later.

Over the course of Ayers' absence and the first few minutes of her return to the court, KCC went on a 12-0 run that finally concluded midway through the quarter after Ayers connected on a 3-pointer to end MATC's scoring drought. The only issue was, the damage had already been done after being held scoreless for nearly five minutes straight.

Having now fallen behind 68-55 with 4:46 remaining, the Stormers finished the final five or so minutes going 2-for-8 with three turnovers. As a result, they finished the evening shooting 36.4 percent on 55 shot attempts.

Even in defeat Ayers proved that she can hang with any team in Region IV play. The second-year guard totaled 29 points, eight assists, three steals and three rebounds on 45 percent (9-for-20) shooting from the field. Furthermore, her presence was consistent throughout as she totaled five or more points in all four quarters, including a 10-point opening quarter that afforded her team a rare 20-18 lead early on.

"It was the right night for her to score nearly 30 points, but I just wish we were on the winning side of it tonight," Murrell said of his only sophomore. "At the end of the day, she [Ayers] gave us all that she could and I'm not shocked by her getting 29 points. She has that ability and we just can't seem to get everyone going on the same night together."

STAT BOOK
Ayers paced the Stormers with a game-high 29 points. Bynum added a dozen points, three steals, and a pair of rebounds. Freshman Makayla Carney contributed seven points, six rebounds and two assists. Freshman reserve Mary-Kate Louissaint chipped in a team-high 11 rebounds.

UP NEXT
MATC (8-18) will travel to Harper College at 1 p.m. Saturday.