January 14, 2008

Lady Tigers slip past Coffeyville 48-47, improve to 3-0 in Jayhawk East

Continuing its strong start to the conference season, the Cowley College women’s basketball team edged two-time defending conference champion Coffeyville Community College 48-47 Saturday night at W.S. Scott Auditorium to remain unbeaten in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Cowley trailed 20-18 at the end of the first half and 29-22 five minutes into the second half. However, a 9-0 run helped the Lady Tigers go back on top 31-29. Cowley’s lead would grow to 43-36 after a basket by freshman Gabrielle Curtis with four minutes remaining.

Coffeyville’s Lacie Ward then started the Lady Red Ravens’ comeback by hitting two of her five three-pointers in the game’s final minute and a half of play. Following Ward’s fifth three-pointer of the game, which cut Cowley’s lead to 47-46 with 28.7 seconds remaining, Coffeyville stole the ball from the Lady Tigers and Alexis Wright fouled Ward with 17.9 seconds left.

Ward missed the first free throw, but hit the second to tie the game at 47-47. However, Ward was unaware that her second free throw had tied the score and fouled Cowley’s Elena Yankova in an attempt to stop the clock with 11.5 seconds remaining.

The miscue would cost the Lady Red Ravens as Yankova missed the first free-throw but made the second, putting Cowley ahead 48-47. Following a turnover by Coffeyville and a pair of missed free throws by Cowley’s JaNeil Robinson, the Lady Red Ravens had one final shot attempt.

Stephanie Nitcher’s three-point attempt was blocked by Wright as the final horn sounded.

“I thought we were pretty confident and did some good things for a stretch there, but we made it way to scary there at the end,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

Cowley forced Coffeyville into 22 turnovers and 31.4 percent shooting.

‘We got out into the passing lanes and they didn’t make good decisions and we were able to capitalize on those,” Clark said.

Sophomore Lauren Cherry, who entered the game averaging just 3.5 rebounds per game, finished with a season-high 13 rebounds for the Lady Tigers.

“She is a very good rebounder and stepped up big for us,” Clark said.

Yankova led Cowley with 12 points and four assists, while Curtis finished with 11 points and six steals. Along with the block of Nitcher’s attempt for the win, Wright added 10 points and four rebounds.

After going 5-7 in its non-conference schedule, Cowley is now 8-7 overall and 3-0 in the Jayhawk East.

“I think playing a tough schedule early made us tougher,” Clark said.

Ward led Coffeyville with 18 points, while Nitcher finished with 11. The loss drops Coffeyville’s record to 8-7 overall and 2-1 in the Jayhawk East.

Cowley will now shift its focus to another tough opponent, as they will host Johnson County Wednesday at 5 p.m. The Lady Cavaliers are ranked fourth in the latest NJCAA Division II poll and are 12-3 overall and 2-1 in the Jayhawk East.

“Hopefully, we can be resilient, come back and give a good effort against them,” Clark said.

Box score:
Coffeyville (47): Lacie Ward 6-13 1-2 18, Tarita Gordon 2-9 3-6 8, Cheryl Scott 2-10 1-2 5, Allison Royland 2-5 0-0 4, Taja Green 0-3 1-2 1, Allie Bufford 0-0 0-0 0, ShiNeice Cox 0-2 0-0 0, Stephanie Nitcher 4-9 3-8 11, Kayla Cooper 0-0 0-1 0. Totals: 16-51 9-21 47.

Cowley (48): Elena Yankova 5-15 2-6 12, Shirolacille Holloway 3-10 0-1 6, Gabrielle Curtis 5-15 0-0 11, Whitney Williams 1-3 0-0 2, Lauren Cherry 0-3 0-1 0, Noelle Jackson 0-0 0-0 0, Courtney Goodrum 1-1 0-0 2, Amy Slane 0-0 0-0 0, JaNeil Robinson 0-1 2-6 2, Alexis Wright 3-8 4-8 10, Neasha Haynes 1-1 0-0 3. Totals: 19-57 8-22 48.

Three-pointers: Coffeyville 6-18 (Ward 5-12, Gordon 1-6), Cowley 2-6 (Wright 0-1, Curtis 1-4, Haynes 1-1). Rebounds: Coffeyville 32 (Scott 6), Cowley 44 (Cherry 13). Assists: Coffeyville 7 (Cox 4), Cowley 12 (Yankova 4). Turnovers: Coffeyville 22, Cowley 14. Total fouls: Coffeyville 21, Cowley 16. Fouled out: Gordon. Technicals: none.