March 13, 2006

Lady Tigers fall to Colby 79-61 in Region VI Tournament

Trailing second-seeded Colby by only four points (37-33) at the end of the first half, the No. 7-seeded Cowley College women’s basketball team appeared to have a shot at the upset.

However, the Lady Trojans shot 53.6 percent in the second half and pulled away for a 79-61 win Saturday in the second-round of the Region VI Tournament played at Wichita State University’s Charles Koch Arena.

“The girls played hard and gave us chances, but we missed a lot of easy shots,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. “It’s tough to play catch up against a good shooting team like Colby.”

Cowley hung around until the midpoint of the second half as they trailed just 58-48 after a basket by Crysta Glenn with 9:40 remaining. However, the Lady Trojans used a 12-0 run over the next four minutes of play as they advanced to play Cloud County today at 3 p.m.

Colby hit 13 three-pointers, and got 20 points and 13 rebounds from Rita Kollo in the win. The Thunderbirds are now 29-3 on the season.

Freshman point guard Tehani Goldsmith had a stellar game in defeat as she finished with a game-high 25 points. Sophomore Ashley Burnett added 14 points and six rebounds in her final game with the Tigers.

Cowley ends the season with a record of 19-13 overall. The Lady Tigers will lose five sophomores off this year’s team. The sophomores are, Burnett, Megan Schoenfeld, Lacey Rowe, Courtney Grant, and Erin Oliver.

“The character of those kids is just tremendous,” Clark said. “They went through a tough year with a lot of adversity, but the quality of our sophomores held us together.”

With the high standards that the Cowley basketball program has, Clark is hungry to get the Lady Tigers back in contention for a Jayhawk Conference title next season.

“We have got some work to do, this is not good enough,” Clark said. “We have got to get a lot physically tougher.”

Box score:

Cowley (61): Brittany Wilson 1-5 0-0 3, Crysta Glenn 4-7 0-0 8, Alyssa Showman 1-3 0-0 3, Tehani Goldsmith 10-18 3-5 25, Megan Schoenfeld 3-17 0-0 6, Lacey Rowe 1-3 0-0 2, Erin Oliver 0-0 0-0 0, Chelsz Coggins 0-0 0-0 0, Ashley Burnett 5-12 4-4 14. Totals: 25-65 7-9 61.

Colby (79): Ivy Ramsey 1-4 0-0 3, Ivana Mijalcevic 2-4 1-4 5, Shareka Purnell 2-4 2-2 8, Jamie Schroeder 2-7 2-2 6, Rita Kollo 8-15 3-5 20, Suzana Somaz 3-11 0-0 9, Jacci Tinkel 4-5 0-0 12, Loree Siruta 0-0 0-0 0, Ivana Stojadinov 5-10 2-2 14, Val Jackson 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 28-62 10-15 79.

Three-pointers: Cowley 4-12 (Wilson 1-3, Showman 1-3, Goldsmith 2-4, Schoenfeld 0-2), Colby 13-36 (Ramsey 1-3, Tinkel 4-5, Purnell 2-4, Schroeder 0-3, Stojadinov 2-6, Kollo 1-5, Jackson 0-1, Somaz 3-9).  Rebounds: Cowley 31 (Glenn 7), Colby 47 (Mijalcevic 15). Assists: Cowley 7 (Glenn, Goldsmith 2), Colby 24 (Somaz 6). Turnovers: Cowley 13, Colby 19. Total fouls: Cowley 13, Colby 11. Fouled out: Glenn. Technicals: none.