Independence slips past Lady Tigers in 75-71 road win

In a game that featured 12 ties and 17 lead changes, the Independence Community College Lady Pirates made enough plays down the stretch to defeat the Cowley College women's basketball team 75-71 Wednesday night inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Independence would lead 19-13 after one-quarter of play before Cowley scored the first seven points of the second quarter to go in front 20-19. The remainder of the half would be back and forth, with the Lady Pirates going into halftime with a slim 30-28 advantage.

The first half featured six ties and seven lead changes.

Cowley would trail by as many as six points (48-42) in the third quarter before rallying to take a 55-53 lead into the final quarter of play.

Trailing 71-70, Lady Tiger sophomore Shamahra Henderson, who would go on to be crowned Homecoming Queen at halftime of the men's game, made 1-of-2 free-throw attempts to tie the game with 37.3 seconds remaining.

On the ensuing possession, Independence's Sabrina Larsson made her seventh three-pointer of the game to put the Lady Pirates in front 74-71 with 22.5 seconds left.

Needing a three-pointer to tie, Lady Tiger freshman Gracie Gilpin had her game-tying attempt partially blocked, and the Lady Pirates' D'yanna Maxey made 1-of-2 free throw attempts in the closing seconds to help seal the 75-71 win.

"Credit to Independence, they made big shots when they needed to," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

The loss drops Cowley's record to 12-12 overall and 7-11 in the Jayhawk Conference, while Independence improves its record to 13-12 overall and 9-10 in the conference.

Baylee Fincher led Cowley with 22 points and 11 rebounds, while Henderson added 11 points and 10 boards. Larsson led all scorers with 25 points and five blocked shots as Indy went 11-of-31 from three-point range, and the Lady Tigers struggled, going 4-of-23 from beyond the arc.

The Lady Tigers will now prepare to play at Seward County Saturday at 2 p.m. Seward is 13-12 overall and 11-8 in the conference.

"We will need to play better than we did against Independence and try to find a way to go on the road and get the win," Clark said.

Box score: 

Indy (75): Serenity Echols 2-6 1-2 7, Blesseth Dillingham 1-5 0-0 3, Sabrina Larsson 9-17 0-0 25, Valentina Ojeda 6-9 3-3 15, JaMya Robinson 6-10 2-4 15, D'yanna Maxey 4-11 1-2 9, Merveille Nkoyock 0-0 0-0 0, Sunishka Kartik 0-3 0-0 0, Jadyn Lattimore 0-1 0-0 0, Miah Lowman 0-0 1-2 1. Totals: 28-62 8-13 75.

Cowley (71): Gracie Gilpin 4-11 0-0 10, Lorette Chene 3-10 0-0 7, Baylee Fincher 8-20 6-8 22, Shamahra Henderson 3-7 5-6 11, Anna Przyszlak 5-13 2-2 13, Brooke Perez 0-0 0-0 0, Lexi Rose 0-0 0-0 0, Lucia Noin 0-2 2-2 2, N'dack Mbengue 2-3 2-2 6. Totals: 25-66 17-20 71.

Three-pointers: Indy 11-31 (Larsson 7-12, Echols 2-4, Dilllingham 1-5, Robinson 1-3, Maxey 0-5, Kartik 0-2), Cowley 4-23 (Gilpin 2-8, Przyszlak 1-5, Chene 1-4, Fincher 0-5, Henderson 0-1). Rebounds: Indy 31 (Ojeda 8), Cowley 35 (Fincher 11). Assists: Indy 9 (Dillingham 3), Cowley 4 (Gilpin 2). Turnovers: Indy 15, Cowley 13. Total fouls: Indy 17, Cowley 17. Fouled out: Henderson. Technicals: none.