January 26, 2009

Big second half leads Lady Tigers to 70-61 win at Neosho County

Trailing the Neosho County Lady Panthers by 12 points (35-23) at the end of first half of Saturday’s game in Chanute, the Cowley College women’s basketball team came alive in the game’s final 20 minutes of play as they outscored Neosho County 47-26 to win 70-61.

Neosho County took advantage of several early turnovers by the Lady Tigers to lead 23-9 midway through the first half. To make matters worse, Cowley’s Bebe Holloway and Kaneesha Lee picked up two fouls in the first eight minutes of Saturday’s game and had to sit the remainder of the half.

Holloway came out ready to go in the second half as she filled up the stat line, finishing with 15 points, eight rebounds, six assists and five steals. Her inspired play helped Cowley regain the lead at the 12-minute mark and the Lady Tigers never trailed again.

Lady Tiger point guard Gabbie Curtis made 8-of-11 shots from the floor and finished with a game-high 21 points.

“I think she is becoming more offensive minded,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

Elena Yankova and Whitney Williams chipped in 13 points apiece and JaNeil Robinson added a team-high 10 rebounds.

“JaNeil played a great game for us,” Clark said. “We’re becoming a more balanced team again.”

Cowley shot 48 percent from the floor and benefited from Neosho County making just 6-of-29 three-point attempts, and only 1-of-10 attempts from the free-throw line. The Lady Panthers fall to 8-12 overall and 3-5 in the conference.

The victory snaps a two-game skid for the Lady Tigers in which they lost both games by a combined three points. Cowley is now 13-7 overall and 4-4 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

“We put our backs against the wall with a couple of close road defeats,” Clark said. “We will try to focus on one game at a time at not worry about anything else.”

Cowley will host Allen County Wednesday night at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Red Devils have struggled to a record of 3-17 overall and 0-8 in the Jayhawk East.