Fincher's big-night lifts Lady Tigers to 68-62 home win

Getting a career-high 28 points and 12 rebounds from sophomore Baylee Fincher, the Cowley College women's basketball team remained unbeaten with a 68-62 win over Northern Oklahoma College-Enid Monday night inside W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Monday's game featured seven ties and 10 lead changes as Cowley led 13-12 at the end of the first quarter and went into halftime leading 30-26. Fincher was 8-of-12 from the floor in the opening half, while the rest of the team went only 5-of-21.

"Baylee stepped up and had a really nice game," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

With the score tied 41-41 with less than four minutes left in the third quarter, Cowley would use an 8-0 run, capped by a three-pointer by Milena Fromming, to lead 49-41. The Lady Jets would score the final five points of the quarter to trail by three (49-46) heading into the final 10 minutes of play.

Lady Tiger freshman Carson Dean would then hit a couple of big-time threes to increase Cowley's lead to 55-48 and all five Cowley starters scored in the final quarter as they held on for the six-point win.

Cowley shot 54 percent from the floor in the second half and got scoring from eight players as they improve to 4-0 on the season. The Lady Jets (0-1) shot only 36.5 percent from the floor and were led by Aleisha Hester's 19 points.

"We guarded fairly well and are starting to play more together," Clark said.

Cowley will now turn its attention to Wednesday night's game at Northern Oklahoma College-Tonkawa at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Tigers defeated NOC-Tonkawa 79-54 on Nov. 3.

"Tonkawa is a tough place to play, so we will have to be ready to compete," Clark said.

Box score:

NOC-Enid (62): Jade Hazelbaker 1-2 0-0 2, Averi Zinn 3-5 2-2 11, Tegan Jones 3-15 4-6 10, Aleisha Hester 8-17 3-3 19, Elizabeth Simpson 4-11 2-3 10, LaKysia Johnson 1-6 0-0 2, Cassidy Franklin 0-0 0-0 0, Libbi Zinn 0-3 0-0 0, Madi Smith 3-4 0-0 8. Totals: 23-63 11-15 62.

Cowley (68): Milena Fromming 3-13 1-2 9, Baylee Fincher 11-17 4-4 28, Carson Dean 3-7 0-0 9, Shamara Henderson 3-7 0-1 8, Martyna Kowalska 4-11 0-0 8, Lorette Chene 1-2 0-0 2, Callie Scott 1-1 0-0 2, Nicolette Perez 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 27-59 5-7 68.

Three-pointers: NOC-Enid 5-24 (A. Zinn 3-4, Smith 2-3, Jones 0-8, Hester 0-3, Johnson 0-2, L. Zinn 0-2, Hazelbaker 0-1, Simpson 0-1), Cowley 9-19 (Dean 3-6, Fromming 2-5, Fincher 2-5, Henderson 2-3). Rebounds: NOC-Enid 30 (Simpson 13), Cowley 31 (Fincher 12). Assists: NOC-Enid 11 (Simpson 4), Cowley 12 (Fromming, Fincher 4). Turnovers: NOC-Enid 11, Cowley 13. Total fouls: NOC-Enid 11, Cowley 14. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.