Tough shooting night dooms Lady Tigers in 85-54 home loss

Tough shooting night dooms Lady Tigers in 85-54 home loss

For the second game in a row, the Cowley College women's basketball team held the lead after the first quarter of play before having things unravel in a tough conference defeat. This time, the Lady Tigers led Dodge City 15-12 before being shut down the rest of the game in an 85-54 home loss Saturday afternoon inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

On Wednesday, Cowley held a one-point lead at Coffeyville after the first quarter of play but was out-scored by 28 points the rest of the way. Saturday's game was eerily similar as the Lady Tigers got off to the strong start before fizzling.

N'Dack Mbengue, a 6'3" freshman from Italy, made her first start for the Lady Tigers after recently arriving on campus. Mbengue made her presence felt with seven first-quarter points before heading to the bench with her second personal foul.

With Mbengue saddled with two fouls, Cowley's offense dried up as the Lady Tigers shot just 17 percent and were out-scored 24-6 in the second quarter.

"That second quarter killed us," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. "We shot it poorly, and we could never recover."

The Lady Tigers never found its stroke in the second half as they shot 23 percent from the floor and made only 3-of-25 three-point attempts. Sophomore Baylee Fincher led Cowley with 12 points but made only 4-of-15 shot attempts from the field. Mbengue finished with eight points but was limited to 13 minutes of action due to foul trouble.

Dodge City (6-1 overall, 1-0 in the Jayhawk Conference) made 12-of-33 three-point attempts and was led by Bree Stephens' game-high 21 points.

Cowley falls to 5-3 overall and 0-2 in the Jayhawk Conference. The Lady Tigers will look to upset No. 16-ranked Barton when they face the Cougars Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in Great Bend. Barton is currently 7-0 on the season.

"We have got to go on the road and be competitive," Clark said. "We will need to play better to win."