February 25, 2010

Silva leads Cowley to 62-50 win at Kansas City

Playing her best game of the season, Cowley College freshman point guard Ariani Silva poured in 24 points and dished out seven assists in the Lady Tigers’ 62-50 win at Kansas City on Wednesday.

The victory was Cowley’s second in a row and improves the Lady Tigers’ record to 19-9 overall and 12-5 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division. Cowley is in third place in the conference, but more importantly, they are in second place in the seeding for the Region VI Tournament.

“This is always a tough place to play so I am happy to get the win,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

Cowley led 31-25 at the end of the first half and held a slim 44-42 advantage midway through the second half before an 8-0 run helped the Lady Tigers build a double digit lead (52-42) with only five minutes remaining.

Cowley would outscore Kansas City 18-8 over the game’s final 11 minutes as they won for the seventh time in its last eight road contests.

“They tend to pull together a little more on the road and that is a good quality to have,” Clark said. “It has been really positive.”

Silva finished the game 8-of-13 from the floor and 3-of-6 from three-point range.

“Ari played really well, she did not do a whole lot wrong,” Clark said.

Gianna Woods added 15 points as she went 5-of-7 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. While, Jasamyne Saunders came off the bench to finish with 12 points and five rebounds.

Lisa Angell and Crystal Allen also came off the bench to give Cowley valuable minutes.

“Lisa gave us some huge minutes in the first half and I thought Crystal did a great job for us,” Clark said.
Alyssa Rushton went 4-of-7 from three-point range and finished with 18 points and seven rebounds for Kansas City, which is now 15-14 overall and 5-12 in the conference. Besides Rushton going 4-for-7 from three-point range, the Lady Blue Devils went just 1-of-16 from beyond the arc.

Cowley held Kansas City to 30 percent shooting and now ranks fourth nationally in points allowed at 52 points per game.

“Defensively we have been able to do some nice stuff,” Clark said.

After allowing more than 60 points in three of the team’s first seven games, Cowley has held its opponents to fewer than 60 points in 17 of its last 21 games, with 64 points being the most points the Lady Tigers have allowed during that stretch.

Cowley will attempt to lock up the East’s second seed in the Region VI Tournament when they play at Neosho County on Saturday at noon. The game can be heard on KSOK Radio 95.9 FM.

Box score:
Cowley (62): Maggie Vieyra 1-2 1-2 3, Kaneesha Lee 1-6 0-0 2, Gianna Woods 5-7 5-6 15, Ariani Silva 8-13 5-8 24, Brianna Gonzalez 0-2 0-0 0, Jasamyne Saunders 3-5 6-7 12, Crystal Allen 1-3 0-0 2, Lisa Angell 0-0 0-0 0, Anna Sonka 2-5 0-0 4. Totals: 21-43 17-23 62.

Kansas City (50): Melanie Phipps 2-9 0-0 4, Alyssa Rushton 4-11 6-6 18, Annie Rowan 1-4 0-0 3, Sarah Craft 0-6 2-4 2, Shannon Carlin 3-9 2-2 8, Anna Belousova 0-4 0-0 0, Ashley Wham 0-0 0-0 0, Jerae David 2-3 0-0 4, Laci Schreiber 4-7 3-5 11. Totals: 16-53 13-17 50.

Three-pointers: Cowley 3-8 (Silva 3-6, Sonka 0-2), Kansas City 5-23 (Phipps 0-3, Rushton 4-7, Rowan 1-4, Craft 0-2, Carlin 0-4, Belousova 0-3). Rebounds: Cowley 28 (Vieyra, Saunders 5), Kansas City 37 (Rushton, Carlin 7). Assists: Cowley 13 (Silva 7), Kansas City 11 (Craft 3). Turnovers: Cowley 10, Kansas City 16. Total fouls: Cowley 17, Kansas City 20. Fouled out: Lee. Technicals: none.