Barton shocks the Lady Tigers with a 66-65 overtime win

The Cowley College women's basketball team allowed Barton Community College to rally from a seven-point deficit in the game's final 47 seconds as the Cougars came back to shock the Lady Tigers in overtime by a score of 66-65 on Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

After a slow start, which saw the game tied at 5-5 after one-quarter of play, Cowley went into halftime trailing 20-16. The Lady Tigers shot only 16 percent in the opening half and were 3-of-26 from three-point range.

Cowley found its shot in the third quarter, out-scoring Barton 23-10 to lead 39-30 heading into the final quarter. However, Barton nearly scored as many points in the fourth quarter as they had in the game's first 30 minutes as they rallied to force overtime.

Before overtime, Cowley led by as many as nine points (54-45) following a three-pointer by Georgia Knight with only two minutes remaining.

Trailing Cowley by a score of 59-56 after a pair of free throws by Lady Tiger sophomore Destiny Yates with 13.2 seconds left, Barton got a banked-in three-pointer from Alaina Eck to tie the game with 4.7 seconds remaining.

Jaiden Smith's desperation three-pointer at the buzzer was off the mark as the game went to overtime tied at 59-59.

Cowley trailed by as many as four points in overtime (66-62) before pulling within 66-65 on a basket by Hattie Pyle with 8.3 seconds left in the extra session. Yates then stole the ensuing inbounds pass and raced downcourt for the potential game-winner, which was off the mark, but Pyle was there for the rebound and had her putback crawl off the rim as the final buzzer sounded.

"We did a good job of competing and had a chance to win in overtime, but Barton made the plays, and we did not," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

Cowley played without its leading scorer, Elysa Martinez, who was out due to the concussion protocol. The loss drops the Lady Tigers (13-8) into a three-way tie for sixth place in the Jayhawk Conference with a record of 8-8. Barton (11-11) is one game behind Cowley with a conference record of 7-9.

Pyle's career game was wasted as the sophomore finished with 25 points, seven rebounds, four assists, and two steals. Pyle was 4-of-4 from three-point range, while the rest of the team combined to make only 6-of-42 attempts from beyond the arc.

"Hattie was the catalyst for us and helped keep us in the game," Clark said.

Vivian Onugha led Barton with 17 points and 17 rebounds, and the Cougars out-shot Cowley 35 percent to 27.2 percent from the floor.

After back-to-back close defeats, Cowley will attempt to get back in the win column when they play Wednesday at 6:30 at last-place Fort Hays Tech Northwest (1-19), which is 1-15 in the conference.

"We need to bounce back after these two losses and find a way to win on Wednesday," Clark said.

Box score:

Barton (66): Regina Donanu 5-15 0-0 10, Alaina Eck 4-9 2-2 12, Brittany Simpson 6-11 0-0 19, Vivian Onugha 7-17 3-8 17, Gertrude Mapiye 0-1 0-0 0, Keyona Hall 2-4 1-2 5, Kodi Greer 1-3 0-0 3, Charolette Delisle 2-7 0-0 4, Eva Clements 0-4 0-0 0. Totals: 27-71 6-12 66.

Cowley (65): Jaiden Smith 3-16 0-0 8, Destiny Yates 0-7 6-8 6, Hattie Pyle 10-15 1-2 25, Alexcia Murphy 4-10 3-6 11, Georgia Knight 3-8 0-0 9, Keturah Stewart 0-1 0-0 0, Mallory Jackson 0-2 0-0 0, Rafa Bergonso 1-9 1-2 3, Jamie Molina 1-13 0-0 3. Totals: 22-81 11-18 65.

Three-pointers: Barton 6-13 (Simpson 3-5, Eck 2-2, Greer 1-2, Donanu 0-4), Cowley 10-46 (Pyle 4-4, Knight 3-7, Smith 2-13, Molina 1-9, Bergonso 0-7, Yates 0-4, Murphy 0-1, Stewart 0-1). Rebounds: Barton 48 (Onugha 17), Cowley 34 (Pyle 7). Assists: Barton 14 (Onugha 4), Cowley 11 (Pyle 4). Turnovers: Barton 29, Cowley 16. Total fouls: Barton 17, Cowley 14. Fouled out: Simpson, Murphy. Technicals: none.