March 9, 2006

Lady Tigers hold off Dodge City 66-61, advance to Wichita

In a tightly contested game throughout, the No. 7-seeded Cowley College women’s basketball team never led 10th-seeded Dodge City by more than nine points, but also never trailed in the game’s final 35 minutes of play as they held off the Lady Conquistadors by a score of 66-61 in the first-round of the Region VI Tournament played Wednesday night at W.S. Scott Auditorium/Dan Kahler Court.

Cowley led by just two points (27-25) at the end of the first half, and just one point (37-36) after a three-pointer by Beth Troutt with 14:30 remaining in the game. The Lady Tigers grabbed their largest lead of the game at 58-49 on a three-pointer by Alyssa Showman with 6:40 left to play.

Dodge City got the lead down to three points twice in the final two minutes of play, but Cowley went 4-for-4 from the free-throw line in the game’s final 13.2 seconds as they held on for the five-point win.

“I was really impressed with our kids, they had great energy today,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. “This was a great win, I felt like our kids deserved it.”

Cowley had four players in double figures as Megan Schoenfeld scored 17, Ashley Burnett and Showman each chipped in 12, and Crysta Glenn finished with 11.

Freshman Chanelle Freeman had a dominating performance in the defeat as she finished with 18 points and 27 rebounds. Thanks to Freeman’s 27 boards, Dodge City out-rebounded Cowley 46-29. However, Cowley was plus eight on the turnover battle as they forced the Lady Conquistadors into 18 turnovers.

“To get out-rebounded as badly as we did and still win is pretty amazing,” Clark said. “Our whole strategy was to try and wear them down, stretch the floor and get the pace as fast as we could get it, and I thought our kids really did a good job of that.”

The Lady Tigers improve to 19-12 on the season, while Dodge City ends its season with a record of 20-11.

With the win, Cowley advances to play second-seeded Colby (28-3) at 7 p.m. Saturday at Wichita State University’s Koch Arena. Colby was the conference champion in the Jayhawk West.

“It’s a one-game season, so we’re in the spoiler role now,” Clark said.

Box score:

Dodge City (61): Kezia Snell 2-4 1-2 5, Martina Gonzales 3-9 0-0 6, Patricia McKenzie 3-7 0-0 6, Aroha Jennings 4-11 5-7 13, Beth Troutt 5-14 0-0 13, Chanelle Freeman 9-15 0-2 18, Nicole Beckerman 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 26-61 6-11 61.

Cowley (66): Brittany Wilson 1-4 0-0 2, Crysta Glenn 5-14 1-5 11, Alyssa Showman 4-6 2-2 12, Tehani Goldsmith 4-7 0-1 8, Megan Schoenfeld 6-19 3-3 17, Lacey Rowe 1-1 0-0 2, Chelsz Coggins 1-4 0-0 2, Ashley Burnett 5-9 2-2 12. Totals: 27-64 8-13 66.

Three-pointers: Dodge City 3-13 (Gonzales 0-5, Jennings 0-1, Troutt 3-6, Beckerman 0-1), Cowley 4-14 (Wilson 0-1, Glenn 0-1, Showman 2-4, Goldsmith 0-1, Schoenfeld 2-6, Burnett 0-1). Rebounds: Dodge City 46 (Freeman 27), Cowley 29 (Glenn 6). Assists: Dodge City 14 (Snell 5), Cowley 11 (Schoenfeld 4). Turnovers: Dodge City 18, Cowley 10. Total fouls: Dodge City 11, Cowley 13. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.