Lady Tigers' upset bid comes up just short in 62-60 loss at top-ranked Hutchinson

In what was a crazy finish to its game at No. 1-ranked Hutchinson Community College on Saturday, the Cowley College women's basketball team suffered a 62-60 loss when Lady Blue Dragon sophomore Hailey Jackson hit two free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining, and Hutchinson then waited through a video review with no time left on the clock to extend its winning streak to 51 games.

After Jackson's free throws, Cowley used its final timeout to advance the ball. Tiger forward Alexcia Murphy banked in a 12-foot shot, but the attempt was waved off because it came after the final buzzer. The replay confirmed the call, and the game was over.

"I thought we were very competitive the whole game," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. "We had two or three possessions late in the game where we came up empty, and it really cost us because Hutch made plays when they needed them."

Cowley is now 9-5 overall and 4-5 in the Jayhawk Conference. Hutchinson (14-0) remains one-half game in front of Dodge City for first place in the conference with a record of 8-0.

Playing for the first time in 21 days, the Lady Tigers fell behind 14-1 in the opening quarter. Hutchinson led 30-25 at halftime, and the Lady Blue Dragons took a 48-42 lead after three quarters when Katie Duncan banked in a bucket just before the buzzer.

The Tigers battled back by forcing 19 Dragon turnovers and took a 58-56 lead after an Elyse Martinez layup with 2:25 left to play.

Before Jackson's game-winning free throws, Cowley sophomore Hattie Pyle was fouled with 1.2 seconds remaining. Pyle sank both free throws to tie the game at 60-60.

After a timeout, the Blue Dragons advanced the ball to the front court, and Jackson was fouled on the inbound pass. Jackson finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

Martinez had a team-high 16 points to lead the Lady Tigers. Murphy had 12 points and 13 rebounds, and Jamie Molina hit three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points.

Cowley will host Garden City on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Broncbusters (7-5) are 4-3 in the conference.

The box score can be found at: https://kjccc.org/sports/wbkb/2024-25/boxscores/20250104_xhba.xml.