March 2, 2009

Lady Tigers head into postseason winners of 11 in a row

Continuing to play inspired basketball, the Cowley College women’s basketball team ran its winning streak to 11 games in a row with a 67-38 win at Allen County on Saturday.

Cowley finished third in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division with a conference mark of 14-4, but earned the Jayhawk East’s second seed in the Region VI Tournament as they won the tiebreaker over Labette. The tiebreaker was decided on a coin flip.

“We are really happy with where we are sitting,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. “We think we are as good as any team in the region, but we have got to go out and show it on the court.”

Coffeyville (27-3 overall, 16-2 Jayhawk East) finished first in the conference and will be the East’s top-seed in the Region VI Tournament. Barton County is the top-seed in the Jayhawk West (24-6 overall).

On Saturday, Cowley led 34-23 at the end of the first half, and continued to expand its lead over the game’s final 20 minutes of play. The Lady Tigers out-shot Allen County 52 percent to 32 percent from the floor.

Sophomore Elena Yankova led Cowley with 24 points and five assists. Point guard Gabbie Curtis added 14 points, while Whitney Williams made all four of her shot attempts and finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.

Allen County finished in a tie for last place in the conference with Highland as they ended the regular season with a record of 5-25 overall and 2-16 in the Jayhawk East.

Cowley is now 23-7 overall. The Lady Tigers will host Colby Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the first-round of the Region VI Tournament. The Lady Trojans finished seventh in the Jayhawk West with a record of 9-21 overall and 4-12 in the conference.

“They have got nothing to lose, although they have not had a great year they would love to ruin our season,” Clark said.

Cowley has held four opponents to under 40 points during its current winning streak and are outscoring the opposition by an average of 76-57 over the past 11 games.