January 19, 2010

Labette uses late rally to stun Lady Tigers

Appearing to be in control of its game against conference leading Labette Monday at W.S. Scott Auditorium, the Cowley College women’s basketball team came unraveled at the end of the game as the Lady Cardinals rallied to hand the Lady Tigers a heartbreaking 64-62 defeat.

Cowley led by 11 points at halftime (33-22) and maintained a double digit lead (53-42) with five minutes remaining. The Lady Tigers would still lead by eight points (60-52) following a free-throw by Maylisa Johnson with 2:27 left to play.

However, Labette outscored Cowley 12-2 the rest of the way and took its first lead since the first three minutes of the game on Jasmine Smith’s runner in the lane with six seconds left. Ariana Silva’s long jumper at the buzzer was off the mark and the Lady Cardinals handed the Lady Tigers their first home loss of the season.

A victory would have vaulted Cowley into first place in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division, instead the Lady Tigers (12-6 overall, 5-2 Jayhawk East) are now two games behind Labette (15-2 overall, 5-0 Jayhawk East) in the loss column.

Back-to-back turnovers by the Lady Tigers in the final minute were converted into Labette’s final five points of the game.

“Those were two possessions that if we work a little clock there I think we would have been alright,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

Sophomore Gianna Woods led Cowley with 24 points and seven rebounds in the defeat. Point guard Ariana Silva, coming off a career-high 21 points in the win over Johnson County on Saturday, finished with 20 points. However, Silva committed five of her eight turnovers in the second half.

Smith led Labette with 18 points and six assists, while Satoria Bell scored 15 of her 17 points in the second half. Kellindra Zachery helped the Lady Cardinals out-rebound Cowley 30-21 as she pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.

Cowley out-shot Labette 51 percent to 44.4 percent from the floor, but the Lady Cardinals bounced back from shooting 33 percent in the opening half to shoot 53 percent over the game’s final 20 minutes of play.

The Lady Tigers will need to put the loss behind them as they will travel to Fort Scott on Wednesday to take on the Greyhounds at 6 p.m. Fort Scott is 9-7 overall and 1-3 in the Jayhawk East.
Clark is glad the team will not have much time to dwell on the loss.

“The way I look at it is it is a good thing we play on Wednesday,” Clark said.

Wednesday’s game can be heard on KSOK Radio 95.9 FM.

Box score:
Labette (64): Satoria Bell 6-11 3-3 17, Kellindra Zachery 4-11 4-6 12, Jasmine Smith 8-13 2-2 18, Philicia Kelly 1-2 0-0 2, Shetiarra Pledger 3-6 0-0 8, Katelyn Sunde 1-7 0-0 3, Linda Henderson 1-1 2-3 4, Monique Johnson 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 24-54 11-14 64.

Cowley (62): Ariana Silva 7-13 3-5 20, Kaneesha Lee 2-10 0-0 4, Maylisa Johnson 0-0 3-4 3, Anna Sonka 3-7 0-0 7, Gianna Woods 11-15 2-2 24, Jasamyne Saunders 2-4 0-0 4, Crystal Allen 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-49 8-11 62.

Three-pointers: Labette 5-15 (Bell 2-5, Pledger 2-4, Sunde 1-6), Cowley 4-8 (Silva 3-4, Sonka 1-4). Rebounds: Labette 30 (Zachery 13), Cowley 21 (Woods 7). Assists: Labette 17 (Smith 6), Cowley 20 (Johnson 8). Turnovers: Labette 23, Cowley 22. Total fouls: Labette 13, Cowley 14. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.