November 2, 2006                    

Lady Tigers ride defense to 62-37 season opening win

Leading the Southwestern College JV by just two points (29-27) at the end of the first half, the Cowley College women’s basketball team turned up its defensive intensity over the game’s final 20 minutes of play and cruised to a 62-37 win Wednesday in its season opener played at W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Cowley scored the first 15 points of the second half and outscored the Lady Builder JV 23-1 to lead 52-28 with 6:45 left to play. The Lady Tigers held the Southwestern JV to 15.8 percent shooting in the second half and 29.8 percent shooting for the game.

"I thought that we played way too fast in the first half, they were coming right back at us,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. “The tempo slowed in the second half. We settled in a lot better, I thought that we were locked in defensively."

Sophomore transfer Ashley Cole (pictured) had an impressive debut as she finished with a game-high 20 points and 11 rebounds in 25 minutes of playing time.

"Ashley can put the ball in the basket,” Clark said. “She is really good with the ball in her hands.”

Sophomores Alyssa Showman and Lindsey Davis joined Cole in double figures as they finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Cowley shot 44.4 percent in each half and went 11-of-16 from the free-throw line in improving to 1-0 on the season. The Lady Tigers will be back in action Saturday when they play at Seminole (Okla.) State at 2 p.m. The game can be heard on KACY 102.5 FM.

Box score:

SC (37): Melissa Greenburg 1-3 1-2 4, Kinsey Colclasure 3-11 0-0 9, Hayley Harvey 4-7 0-0 9, Whitney Jones 1-7 0-0 2, Whitney Baker 4-8 1-2 9, Jordan Jarnagin 1-6 0-0 3, JoAnna Ellsworth 0-1 0-1 0, Melissa Borthwick 0-2 1-2 1, Kristen Watson 0-2 0-0 0, Gloria Griffin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 14-47 3-7 37.

Cowley (62): Ashley Cole 8-15 4-7 20, Crysta Glenn 3-6 1-2 7, Cassie Powell 0-0 0-0 0, Lindsey Davis 5-9 1-2 11, Chelsz Coggins 0-2 0-0 0, Adrienne Willhight 0-0 0-0 0, Nikki Boone 1-4 2-2 4, Alyssa Showman 4-8 1-1 12, Natasa Draganic 2-4 2-2 6, Alexis Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Caitlin Spencer 0-0 0-0 0, Sharee Hurt 1-5 0-0 2, Lauren Cherry 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 24-54 11-16 62.

Three-pointers: SC 6-20 (Greenburg 1-2, Colclasure 3-9, Harvey 1-3, Jones 0-1, Jarnagin 1-3, Ellsworth 0-1, Watson 0-1), Cowley 3-9 (Cole 0-2, Davis 0-1, Showman 3-6). Rebounds: SC 26 (Baker 7), Cowley 38 (Cole 11). Assists: SC 8 (Harvey, Jones 2), Cowley 12 (Glenn 3). Turnovers: SC 19, Cowley 12. Total fouls: SC 17, Cowley 13. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.