Lady Tigers stay hot, reach 20-win plateau with a 69-45 win at Butler

Winning for the seventh time in the past eight games, the Cowley College women's basketball team buried 15 three-pointers in a 69-45 win at Butler on Wednesday.

With the win, the Lady Tigers reach 20 victories for the first time since the 2019-20 season. Cowley is now 20-9 overall, and the Lady Tigers placed fifth in the Jayhawk Conference standings with a record of 15-9.

On Wednesday, Cowley led 16-11 after one-quarter of play and never trailed the rest of the way.

The Lady Tigers out-scored Butler 16-7 in the second quarter to take a 32-18 halftime lead.

After Butler pulled within 35-25 early in the third quarter, Cowley responded with a 10-0 run to lead by 20 (45-25). The Lady Tigers continued to pour it on, leading by as many as 27 points (67-40) following a basket by Alexia Murphy with 3:14 remaining.

Cowley held Butler (22-7) to a season-low 23.3 percent shooting as the Grizzlies finished fourth in the conference with a record of 17-7. Butler made only 2-of-26 three-point attempts

"We were embarrassed by how we played in our home loss to them, so we came out motivated and had a better game plan this time around," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

Hitting seven three-pointers in Cowley's previous outing, sophomore Jaiden Smith had her second straight 20-plus scoring outing as she went 6-of-14 from long range and finished with a game-high 20 points.

"It is a huge advantage for us when Jaiden is making shots," Clark said.

Hattie Pyle added 13 points and nine rebounds, while Elysa Martinez chipped in with 13 points, seven assists, and five rebounds. Murphy came off the bench to finish with 10 points and seven rebounds in 13 minutes of action.

Butler's Ashley Singhateh was the lone Grizzly to score in double figures as she finished with 11 points.

Cowley earned the fifth seed and will host 12^th-seed Independence (3-27) in the First Round of the Region VI Playoffs on Saturday at 1 p.m.

"We have been doing a good job of focusing on the task at hand and will need to continue to take it one game at a time,"

Box score:

Cowley (69): Jaiden Smith 7-17 0-0 20, Mallory Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Destiny Yates 1-5 2-2 5, Hattie Pyle 4-10 2-2 13, Elysa Martinez 5-10 0-0 13, Keturah Stewart 3-7 0-0 8, Alexcia Murphy 4-8 2-2 10, Georgia Knight 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 24-60 6-6 69.

Butler (45): Ashley Singhateh 3-8 5-5 11, Mya Mayberry 2-9 0-0 6, Lucia Lara 3-8 2-4 8, Keegan Yarick 2-9 0-0 4, Kenzie Galliart 1-7 5-6 7, Destiny Smith 1-7 2-2 4, Madison Smith 1-5 0-0 2, Awa Jawara 0-0 0-0 0, Mercy Wamet 0-1 0-0 0, Alba Cunill 0-3 0-2 0, Jalyiah Manuel 1-3 1-2 3. Totals: 14-60 15-21 45.

Three-pointers: Cowley 15-38 (Smith 6-14, Martinez 3-7, Pyle 3-5, Stewart 2-5, Yates 1-5, Knight 0-2), Butler 2-26 (Mayberry 2-8, Smith 0-5, Smith 0-4, Yarick 0-3, Singhateh 0-2, Lara 0-2, Cunill 0-2). Rebounds: Cowley 38 (Pyle 9), Butler 47 (Galliart 11). Assists: Cowley 21 (Martinez 7), Butler 5 (Singhateh 3). Turnovers: Cowley 15, Butler 18. Total fouls: Cowley 15, Butler 11. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.