Lady Tigers’ rally comes up short in 72-67 home loss

Facing rival Coffeyville Community College Wednesday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium, the Cowley College women's basketball team trimmed a 20-point third-quarter deficit down to one point but could not get over the hump in a 72-67 defeat.

Cowley trailed 20-15 at the end of the first quarter and shot only 26 percent while heading into halftime down 30-24.

Coffeyville would use a 19-3 third-quarter run to open its largest lead of the night at 51-31 before Cowley pulled within 53-38 heading into the final quarter of play.

Trailing 62-49, back-to-back three-pointers by freshman Gracie Gilpin sparked a 12-0 run to pull Cowley within 62-61 with 3:43 remaining. However, Coffeyville's Jordynn Conner would score three straight points and the Red Ravens went 8-of-12 from the free-throw line over the final 2:44 of play as they held on for the five-point win.

"I thought we played hard and gave a good effort, we have just got to be able to shoot it better," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. "I am disappointed we lost, but I believe it is something to build on."

The loss snapped Cowley's two-game winning streak as the Lady Tigers are now 10-9 overall and 5-8 in the Jayhawk Conference. Coffeyville, winners of three games in a row, improves its record to 13-6 overall and 9-4 in the conference.

Coffeyville had two players record double-doubles as Cheyenne Banks finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds, and Conner added 12 points and 15 boards.

"Those two killed us on the inside," Clark said.

Cowley shot just 29.9 percent from the floor, while sophomore Lorette Chene was a bright spot in the loss as she came off the bench to score nine points on 4-of-5 shooting. Gilpin was the lone Tiger to score in double figures as she finished with 18 points on 7-of-20 shooting. Chene and Gilpin combined to make 11-of-25 field goal attempts, while the rest of the team went a combined 12-of-52.

"Offensively, Gracie and Lorette were really good for us," Clark said.

Cowley will now prepare to play at conference-leading Dodge City Saturday at 1 p.m. The Lady Conquistadors, winners of nine games in a row, are 16-2 overall and 11-1 in the Jayhawk Conference.

"We need to go out there and give another great effort and see what can happen," Clark said. "We need to make things hard on them to give ourselves an opportunity to win."

Box score:

Coffeyville (72): Tetona Woods-Blackowl 1-1 4-4 7, Kyleigh Ortiz 1-11 1-2 4, Kennady Roach 3-8 3-3 9, Jordynn Conner 5-9 2-7 12, Cheyenne Banks 7-12 4-5 18, Natorie Graham 0-0 0-0 0, Makenzie Davis 1-2 0-0 2, Kania Starks 0-1 0-0 0, Bailey Layman 6-14 1-2 16, Natalya Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Jordan Snyder 2-2 0-0 4. Totals: 26-60 15-23 72.

Cowley (67): Gracie Gilpin 7-20 0-0 18, Baylee Fincher 2-14 3-4 7, Carson Dean 2-10 2-2 8, Shamahra Henderson 3-10 1-2 8, Anna Przyszlak 2-5 0-0 6, Stasia Duque 0-0 0-0 0, Onnahili Williams 0-1 0-0 0, Lorette Chene 4-5 0-0 9, Brooke Perez 0-1 1-2 1, Jana Radovanovic 1-1 0-0 3, Lexi Rose 0-4 0-0 0, N'dack Mbengue 2-6 3-6 7. Totals: 23-77 10-16 67.

Three-pointers: Coffeyville 5-28 (Layman 3-10, Ortiz 1-11, Woods-Blackowl 1-1, Roach 0-4, Davis 0-1, Starks 0-1), Cowley 11-36 (Gilpin 4-14, Dean 2-8, Przyszlak 2-3, Henderson 1-3, Radovanovic 1-1, Chene 1-1, Rose 0-2). Rebounds: Coffeyville 47 (Conner 15), Cowley 43 (Fincher 9). Assists: Coffeyville 16 (Woods-Blackowl 6), Cowley 12 (Fincher 4). Turnovers: Coffeyville 20, Cowley 14. Total fouls: Coffeyville 15, Cowley 22. Fouled out: Conner. Technicals: none.