January 14, 2010

Lady Tigers win at Independence, improve to 4-1 in Jayhawk East

Remaining near the top of the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division standings, the Cowley College women’s basketball team improved to 4-1 in conference play with a 71-65 win at Independence on Wednesday. The Lady Tigers trail only Labette (3-0) in the conference.

After losing their first four games away from home, Cowley has won its last three true road games. Wednesday night’s win was significant considering Independence was 6-2 at home and picked to finish near the top of the conference standings.

“It was a big team effort and a really big win on the road,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

Sophomore Kaneesha Lee, who scored only eight points in Cowley’s two games played at last weekend’s Jayhawk Shootout, finished with a game-high 25 points and 10 rebounds. Fellow sophomore Gianna Woods added 19 points and eight boards.

Cowley led by as many as 16 points (31-15) in the first half before Independence closed the half on a 13-2 run to cut the Lady Tigers’ lead to 33-28. However, Cowley pushed its lead back to double digits early in the second half and led 57-43 following a basket by point guard Ariani Silva with 6:30 remaining.

The Lady Pirates’ would cut Cowley’s lead to 68-62 following a three-pointer by Sadie Webb with 1:15 left to play, but Lee answered with a basket with 36 seconds left to seal the win.

Webb led Independence with 17 points, while Liene Priede added 16 points. After starting the season 9-0, Wednesday night’s loss was the fifth in a row for the Lady Pirates, who are now 0-3 in conference play.

Silva had a solid night running Cowley’s offense as she finished with 11 points and nine assists.
“That was one of the better games Ariani has played,” Clark said.

Cowley, winners of nine of its last 10 games, is now 11-5 on the season. The Lady Tigers will next travel to Johnson County on Saturday to take on the Lady Cavaliers at 2 p.m. Johnson County, which is ranked No. 5 in the latest NJCAA Division II poll, is 14-1 overall and 2-1 in the Jayhawk East. The Lady Cavaliers had won 14 games in a row before losing to Labette 62-39 on Wednesday.

“Anywhere you go to play on the road you better be ready to play,” Clark said.