Lady Tigers hold off Colby 65-58

Playing for the first time in 23 days, the Cowley College women's basketball team shook off the rust to defeat Colby Community College 65-58 Wednesday night inside W.S. Scott Auditorium. With the win, the Lady Tigers improve their record to 8-1 at home.

Cowley (9-5) moves above .500 in the Jayhawk Conference as they are now 5-4 in conference play. Colby is now 5-9 overall and 2-7 in the Jayhawk Conference.

After falling behind 6-3 in the early going, Cowley rattled off 11 straight points and led 20-8 at the end of the first quarter.

Leading 24-14, the Lady Tigers would get six straight points from sophomore Martyna Kowalska to take a 16-point advantage. Colby would cut the deficit to 10 (34-24) heading into halftime.

The Trojans would go on to score the first seven points of the third quarter and trailed just 45-39 heading into the final quarter of play.

Cowley's lead would grow back to double figures at 60-50 after a basket by sophomore Shamahra Henderson with four minutes left. However, the Trojans would again use a 7-0 run to pull within 60-57 with 35 seconds remaining.

Colby was forced to foul and Cowley would hit 5-of-6 free throws in the final 33 seconds to hold on for the seven-point win.

"I thought we really fought hard threw foul trouble and did not give in," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. "I was proud of our grit."

Baylee Fincher led Cowley with 18 points despite first-half foul trouble. Fincher was one of four starters to finish in double figures in scoring. Shamahra Henderson, the lone Tiger not to score in double figures, filled up the stat sheet as she finished with seven points, nine rebounds, four assists, four steals and four blocked shots.

Kiarra Henderson was the lone Trojan in double figures as she led Colby with 18 points.

Cowley will attempt to make it three wins in a row when they play at No. 20-ranked Butler Community College Saturday at 2 p.m. The Lady Grizzlies are 12-2 overall and 7-2 in the Jayhawk Conference.

"Butler is always tough," Clark said. "We will definitely have to play tough when we go there."