Bench play comes up big in 63-53 Lady Tiger win over Garden City

Outscoring Garden City 22-0 on points from its reserves, the Cowley College women's basketball team came back from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to defeat the Lady Broncbusters 63-53 on Wednesday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

The victory was big for Cowley as they are now 10-5 overall and 5-5 in the Jayhawk Conference. Garden City falls to 7-6 overall and 4-4 in the conference.

Wednesday's game was close the majority of the contest, with Cowley leading 12-9 after one-quarter of play and 33-32 at the end of the first half.

The Lady Tigers went cold in the third quarter, making just 2-of-8 shot attempts and turning the ball over 10 times as Garden City took a 45-39 lead into the final quarter of play.

A three-pointer by Garden City's Bruna Costa Da Silva to open the fourth quarter increased the Broncbusters lead to 48-39. However, after Cowley scored the next seven straight points, Garden City head coach Greg Franklin, who was animated throughout the contest, was whistled for a technical foul.

Cowley sophomore Destiny Yates made both free throws following the technical and Cowley's run was stretched to 20-0 as Garden City went more than six minutes without scoring.

The Lady Tigers out-scored Garden City 24-8 in the fourth quarter and forced the Lady Broncbusters into 30 turnovers in the 10-point win.

"I thought we played hard, and both coaches wanted to win," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. "Everyone stepped up and helped us win this game."

Cowley sophomore Elysa Martinez finished with 19 points and six steals, while Alexcia Murphy came off the bench to finish with 11 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocked shots.

"Elyse and Alexcia were big for us," Clark said.

Jamie Molina also came off the bench to score 10 points for the Lady Tigers, while Garden City's reserves combined to go 0-for-8 from the floor with five turnovers.

Costa Da Silva went 6-of-8 from three-point range to lead Garden City with a game-high 22 points in the loss.

Cowley will face another team just ahead of them in the conference standings when they play at Cloud County on Saturday at 2. The T-Birds are 10-3 overall and 5-3 in the Jayhawk Conference.

Box score:

Garden City (53): Ana Ramos Pires 4-6 0-0 8, Bruna Costa Da Silva 7-15 2-2 22, Sierra Drieesen 2-10 3-4 7, Antonicia Moultrie 6-11 3-3 16, Priscilla Rose Wemba 0-2 0-2 0, Sidney Scruggs 0-1 0-0 0, Hadiya Kennerly 0-2 0-0 0, Julie Mantz 0-6 0-0 0, Ajong Lual 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-52 8-11 53.

Cowley (63): Jaiden Smith 2-8 0-0 6, Destiny Yates 1-5 2-2 4, Hattie Pyle 0-3 6-6 6, Elysa Martinez 5-15 6-7 19, Georgia Knight 2-4 1-2 6, Keturah Stewart 0-1 0-0 0, Mallory Jackson 0-0 1-2 1, Rafa Bergonso 0-2 0-0 0, Alexcia Murphy 5-10 1-3 11, Jamie Molina 4-6 0-0 10.

Three-pointers: Garden City 7-17 (Costa Da Silva 6-8, Moultrie 1-1, Mantz 0-6, Drieesen 0-2), Cowley 8-28 (Martinez 3-9, Smith 2-7, Molina 2-4, Knight 1-2, Yates 0-3, Bergonso 0-2, Stewart 0-1). Rebounds: Garden City 36 (Wemba 11), Cowley 28 (Murphy 10). Assists: Garden City 10 (Driessen 4), Cowley 11 (Martinez 4). Turnovers: Garden City 30, Cowley 22. Total fouls: Garden City 22, Cowley 14. Fouled out: Pires. Technicals: Garden City bench.