February 21, 2008

Lady Tigers knock Labette out of first place in conference

Avenging an earlier loss to Labette Community College Jan. 21 in Parsons, the Cowley College women’s basketball team got a huge game from freshman Gabbie Curtis (pictured) in a 64-53 win over the Lady Cardinals Wednesday night in W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Curtis, who missed Saturday night’s game against Highland due to an injury, did not enter the contest until six minutes had elapsed. She went on to score 12 first half points and scored 10 straight points during a 10-2 second half run, which saw Cowley’s lead grow to 50-38 with less than five minutes remaining.

Sophomore forward Lauren Cherry scored seven of her 11 points in the final 3:15 of play as she helped the Lady Tigers win comfortably.

“Lauren was huge for us,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

Curtis made 10-of-17 shots from the floor and finished with a season-high 26 points and seven rebounds.

“She did a really nice job, we were really pleased with her performance,” Clark said.

The loss knocked Labette (22-5 overall, 12-3 Jayhawk East) out of a three-way tie for first place in the conference with Coffeyville and Independence, while Cowley improves to 16-11 overall and 11-4 in the conference.

Cowley lost the first meeting between the two teams 74-63. However, this time it would be the Lady Tigers winning by 11.

“I thought we were a lot more competitive than the first time we played them and just played better,” Clark said.

Cowley out-shot Labette 46.4 percent to 33.9 percent from the floor, and out-rebounded the Lady Cardinals 36-27. Elena Yankova (15 points) and Whitney Williams (10 points) joined Curtis and Cherry in double figures. Dana Olsen led Labette with 20 points, 15 fewer than she had in the game at Parsons.

The Lady Tigers will get another chance to knock off a first place team in the conference when they host Independence Saturday night at 5 p.m. Cowley lost the first meeting at Independence by a score of 66-58.

Box score:
Labette (53): Mandy Howerton 0-4 0-0 0, Brittany Davis 5-6 1-3 12, Brittany Brown 3-17 4-4 11, Saysan Jones 2-9 4-6 8, Dana Olsen 8-15 4-4 20, Staci Grindstaff 0-0 0-0 0, Divia Nelson 1-5 0-0 2. Totals: 19-56 13-17 53.

Cowley (64): Noelle Jackson 0-2 0-0 0, Elena Yankova 6-14 3-5 15, Alexis Wright 0-0 0-0 0, Whitney Williams 4-11 2-2 10, Lauren Cherry 5-8 1-2 11, Bebe Holloway 1-4 0-0 2, Gabbie Curtis 10-17 6-12 26. Totals: 26-56 12-21 64.

Three-pointers: Labette 2-10 (Davis 1-1, Brown 1-5, Jones 0-3, Olsen 0-1)), Cowley 0-0. Rebounds: Labette 27 (Davis 11), Cowley 36 (Holloway, Curtis 7). Assists: Labette 12 (Howerton 4), Cowley 18 (Jackson, Yankova, Holloway 4). Turnovers: Labette 21, Cowley 20. Total fouls: Labette 21, Cowley 14. Fouled out: Howerton, Olsen, Williams. Technicals: none.

Photo by Donita Clausen/Traveler