Lady Tigers’ season comes to an end with an 88-78 loss at Butler
What a difference a week makes. Having just won at Butler Community College by a score of 69-45 on March 5, the fifth-seeded Cowley College women’s basketball team made a return trip to El Dorado to face fourth-seed Butler on Tuesday in the Second Round of the Region VI Playoffs. This time, the Lady Grizzlies got the better of the Lady Tigers, winning by a score of 88-78.
What a difference a week makes. Having just won at Butler Community College by a score of 69-45 on March 5, the fifth-seeded Cowley College women's basketball team made a return trip to El Dorado to face fourth-seed Butler on Tuesday in the Second Round of the Region VI Playoffs. This time, the Lady Grizzlies got the better of the Lady Tigers, winning by a score of 88-78.
Cowley finishes the season with a record of 21-10, while Butler (23-7) moves on to face top-seed Dodge City in the semifinals of the Region VI Tournament played Friday at 1 p.m. in Hays, KS.
On Tuesday, Cowley scored the first eight points of the game and led 15-14 after one-quarter of play. Back-to-back three-pointers by Butler's Ashley Singhateh in the first half's final minute helped the Lady Grizzlies go into halftime with a 36-29 advantage.
Butler's lead would grow to 59-40 following a basket by Keegan Yarick, and the Grizzlies headed into the final quarter of play with a 62-46 lead.
The Lady Tigers pulled within 75-64 on a three-pointer by Elysa Martinez with 5:13 remaining, but Cowley never got within 10 points of the lead the rest of the way.
Singhateh led all scorers with 24 points, to go along with six assists and five rebounds.
Cowley shot 54.3 percent from the floor and was led by Martinez's 24 points. Hattie Pyle went 10-of-10 from the foul line and added 16 points, but the Tigers were done in by their 21 turnovers.
Butler also grabbed 13 offensive rebounds to Cowley's six as the Tigers allowed a season-high in points.
"We could not handle Butler's physicality," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.
Cowley will say goodbye to seven sophomores. The sophomores are Jaiden Smith, Hattie Pyle, Elysa Martinez, Destiny Yates, Keturah Stewart, Jamie Molina, and Georgia Knight.
"All the terms that coaches throw out there about their players exemplify this group," Clark said. "They were resilient, hard-working, and did a phenomenal job for us, especially over these last couple of weeks."
A transfer from Howard College, Martinez scored the 15th most points in a single season at Cowley with 520. She averaged 17.3 points per game and had the second most steals (120) in NJCAA Division I.
"Elysa was phenomenal for us and was a great teammate," Clark said. "We are excited to follow her career at Emporia State."
Cowley won 12 of its final 16 games and will hope to carry that momentum into next season.
Box score:
Cowley (78): Jaiden Smith 5-8 1-1 14, Mallory Jackson 6-6 0-0 12, Destiny Yates 1-3 2-2 5, Hattie Pyle 3-8 10-10 16, Elysa Martinez 7-17 8-10 24, Keturah Stewart 0-0 0-0 0, Alexcia Murphy 3-4 1-1 7, Georgia Knight 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 25-46 22-24 78.
Butler: Destiny Smith 6-18 2-2 17, Ashley Singhateh 9-15 3-4 24, Mya Mayberry 2-6 2-2 8, Keegan Yarick 5-9 1-1 12, Kenzie Galliart 3-5 2-4 8, Mercy Wamet 0-0 0-0 0, Lucia Lara 4-6 1-3 9, Alba Cunill 3-3 0-0 8, Jalyiah Manuel 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 33-65 11-16 88.
Three-pointers: Cowley 6-19 (Smith 3-6, Martinez 2-7, Yates 1-3, Pyle 0-3), Butler 11-24 (Smith 3-10, Singhateh 3-4, Mayberry 2-4, Cunill 2-2, Yarick 1-3, GAlliart 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 21 (Pyle 5), Butler 27 (Mayberry 7). Assists: Cowley 12 (Pyle, Martinez 4), Butler 22 (Singhateh 6). Turnovers: Cowley 21, Butler 14. Total fouls: Cowley 16, Butler 25. Fouled out: Pyle, Mayberry. Technicals: none.