Balanced attack leads Lady Tigers to 81-69 road win

Hitting a season-high 15 three-pointers, the Cowley College women's basketball team improved its road record to 3-0 with an 81-69 victory at Barton Community College on Saturday in Great Bend, KS.

After making only 13-of-76 three-point attempts in back-to-back home defeats, the Lady Tigers had eight players hit at least one three-pointer in Saturday's win. Cowley is now 7-2 overall and 2-2 in the Jayhawk Conference.

On Saturday, Cowley led 16-8 after one-quarter of play. The Lady Tigers went on to go 6-of-12 from three-point range in the second quarter as they built a 42-24 halftime lead.

Cowley sophomore Jamie Molina gave the team a spark as she came off the bench to score 10 of her 15 points in the second quarter.

The Lady Tigers' lead would remain at 18 points (60-42) heading into the final quarter, and a three-pointer by Jaiden Smith gave Cowley its largest lead of the game (68-46) with 8:37 left to play.

Sophomore Elysa Martinez, the nation's leader in steals, finished with 20 points and nine steals.

The Cougars out-rebounded Cowley 50-28, but the Lady Tigers forced Barton into 16 more turnovers (27-11). Barton also made just 1-of-12 three-point attempts.

"We were really active defensively, which helped us get some easy looks on offense," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

Cowley had five players score in double figures as Martinez and Molina were joined in double figures by Rafa Bergonso (11 points), Destiny Yates (10 points), and Georgia Knight (10 points).

"We need to have balance like this is we want to be competitive in the conference," Clark said.

Barton's Alaina Eck led all scorers with 21 points, while Vivian Anugha finished with eight points and 20 rebounds. The Cougars are now 4-6 overall and 0-4 in the Jayhawk Conference.

Cowley will attempt to make it two wins in a row when they host Fort Hays Tech Northwest on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Mavericks have struggled to a record of 0-8 overall and 0-4 in the conference.

"We want to continue to develop and get better, especially on the defensive end," Clark said.

Box score:

Cowley (81): Jaiden Smith 2-7 2-2 7, Destiny Yates 3-7 2-2 10, Hattie Pyle 2-11 0-0 5, ELysa Martinez 6-17 6-7 20, Georgia Knight 4-7 0-2 10, Keturah Stewart 1-3 0-0 3, Mallory Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Rafa Bergonso 3-8 2-2 11, Jamie Molina 5-8 2-2 15. Totals: 26-69 14-17 81.

Barton (69): Regina Donanu 3-7 1-2 8, Alaina Eck 9-16 3-5 21, Charolette Delisle 0-1 0-0 0, Brittany Simpson 5-9 6-6 16, Vivian Onugha 4-7 0-0 8, Keyona Hall 2-4 0-0 4, Kodi Greer 3-9 2-3 8, Eva Clements 2-6 0-0 4, Emilia Borissova 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 28-60 12-16 69.

Three-pointers: Cowley 15-37 (Molina 3-5, Bergonso 3-4, Martinez 2-6, Knight 2-5, Yates 2-5, Smith 1-6, Pyle 1-4, Stewart 1-1, Jackson 0-1), Barton 1-12 (Donanu 1-2, Eck 0-3, Simpson 0-3, Greer 0-3, Borissova 0-1). Rebounds: 28 (Knight 5), Barton 50 (Onugha 20). Assists: Cowley 19 (Yates 5), Barton 18 (Greer 5). Turnovers: Cowley 11, Barton 27. Total fouls: Cowley 15, Barton 16. Fouled out: Donanu. Technicals: none.