Colby stuns Lady Tigers in 60-58 home defeat
For the second game in a row, the Cowley College women’s basketball team held the lead in the contest’s final minute of play before losing. This time, Colby out-scored the Lady Tigers 8-0 over the final 1:37 of play to come from behind and win 60-58 on Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.
The Lady Tigers have held fourth-quarter leads in each of their past three games, yet are 0-and-3 during that stretch, now 10-11 overall and in ninth place in the Jayhawk Conference with a 6-9 record. Former Lady Tiger head basketball coach Darin Spence has his Colby squad now 12-10 overall and tied for seventh place in the conference at 9-7.
Cowley's final four possessions on Saturday consisted of two turnovers, a missed three-pointer, and a missed 17-foot jumper by Aniyah Burney with two seconds left.
Before that, Cowley led throughout the majority of the contest. The Lady Tigers led 18-13 after one quarter of play and got a three-pointer by sophomore Mallory Jackson just before the halftime buzzer to give Cowley a 28-26 lead.
The Lady Tigers would go on to lead by as many as 11 points (45-34) on a basket by Burney in the final 20 seconds of the third quarter.
However, Colby went 5-of-8 from three-point range over the final 10 minutes of play, while Cowley made just 1-of-7 shots from beyond the arc, which allowed the Trojans to out-score the Lady Tigers 24-13 in the fourth quarter.
Dessirae Ulmer's two free throws with 9.9 seconds left turned out to be the difference.
"This is so disappointing," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. "We need to finish games. One more play, one stop, one score, just one more play!"
Colby's Amisha Russell hit all three of her fourth-quarter three-point attempts and finished 6-of-7 from three-point range to lead all scorers with 22 points.
Olivia Hultgren was 5-of-15 from three-point range as she and Russell combined for 11 three-pointers and 39 points.
Burney again led Cowley with 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists. Megan Simon also played well, finishing with 18 points.
Jackson was the third Lady Tiger in double figures with 11 points. However, Jackson shot just 4-of-17 from the floor, and Colby outshot Cowley 43.4 percent to 30.4.
Cowley will attempt to snap its three-game skid when it plays at Coffeyville on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Red Ravens are 17-5 overall and in fourth place in the Jayhawk Conference with a record of 11-5.
Box score:
Colby (60): Olivia Hultgren 6-18 0-0 17, Piri Lewis 2-3 0-0 4, Amisha Russell 8-9 0-0 22, Dessirae Ulmer 4-10 3-4 11, Easha Potts 3-5 0-0 6, Jera Kruleski 0-7 0-0 0, Elia Ando 0-0 0-2 0, Regina Pasti 0-1 0-2 0. Totals: 23-53 3-8 60.
Cowley (58): Mallory Jackson 4-17 0-0 11, Aniyah Burney 7-19 2-2 20, Naya Burleson 1-5 0-0 2, Megan Simon 7-14 4-4 18, Saliyah Henderson-Johnson 0-4 0-0 0, Zuzanna Komor 2-6 2-2 7, Zari Walker 0-4 0-0 0. Totals: 21-69 8-8 58,
Three-pointers: Colby 11-27 (Russell 6-7, Hultgren 5-15, Kruleski 0-4, Potts 0-1), Cowley 8-32 (Burney 4-11, Jackson 3-12, Komor 1-4, Burleson 0-3, Henderson-Johnson 0-2). Rebounds: Colby 38 (Potts 10), Cowley 31 (Henderson-Johnson 7). Assists: Colby 18 (Lewis 7), Cowley 13 (Burney 5, Henderson-Johnson 5). Turnovers: Colby 24, Cowley 13. Total fouls: Colby 11, Cowley 15. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.