January 10, 2008

Cowley women make plays down the stretch, win 64-55

Having watched a 13-point second half lead disintegrate, the Cowley College women’s basketball team regrouped to score the final 10 points of its game at Allen County Wednesday en route to a 64-55 win.

After trailing 28-27 at the end of the first half, the Lady Tigers opened the second half with a 12-1 run to lead 39-29. Cowley’s lead would grow to 48-35 after a basket by Elena Yankova with 8:53 remaining.

However, Allen County would outscore Cowley 20-6 over the next six minutes of play as they regained a 55-54 lead. Alexis Wright would rally the Lady Tigers by scoring four straight points to put Cowley back on top 58-55 with 1:54 remaining.

Cowley would hold Allen County scoreless the final 2:43 of play as they went on to win by nine.

“I liked the way we continued to battle and didn’t give in when we got behind,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. “We are growing up and getting better.”

Yankova finished with a season-high 23 points, while Gabrielle Curtis added 16 points, four assists and three steals. Wright came off the bench to finish with 13 points.

“I thought Alexis was really big for us off the bench, she played really well,” Clark said.

After going just 2-of-4 from the free-throw line in the first half, Cowley finished 15-of-20 from the line.

“We were huge from the free-throw line, especially down the stretch,” Clark said.
The victory improves Cowley’s record to 7-7 overall and 2-0 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Freshman Brittany Johnson led Allen County with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the defeat. The Lady Red Devils are now 8-6 overall and 1-1 in the Jayhawk East.

Cowley will be back in action Saturday when they host an important contest against  defending conference champion Coffeyville (8-6 overall, 2-0 Jayhawk East) at 5 p.m.

“Hopefully, we can handle their pressure and score some points,” Clark said.

Box score:
Cowley (64): Elena Yankova 10-16 3-4 23, Shirolacille Holloway 1-2 2-2 4, JaNeil Robinson 0-0 0-0 0, Alexis Wright 4-7 4-8 13, Gabrielle Curtis 6-10 4-4 16, Whitney Williams 1-8 2-2 4, Lauren Cherry 2-4 0-0 4. Totals: 24-47 15-20 64.

Allen County (55): Jennifer Willis 5-8 2-2 15, Alyson Fisher 0-2 0-0 0, Whitney Falkenstein 0-0 2-2 2, Brittany Johnson 6-18 4-9 16, Joanna Ortiz 5-11 0-0 14, Samantha Aofia 0-2 0-0 0, Natasha Blackmore 3-7 2-3 8, Tenisha Harris 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-48 10-16 55.

Three-pointers: Cowley 1-2 (Wright 1-2), Allen 7-17 (Willis 3-5, Fisher 0-1, Ortiz 4-9, Aofia 0-1, Blackmore 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 31 (Williams 6), Allen 28 (Johnson 10). Assists: Cowley 10 (Curtis 4), Allen 10 (Ortiz 4). Turnovers: Cowley 9, Allen 13. Total fouls: Cowley 14, Allen 15. Fouled out: Fisher. Technicals: none.