Lady Tigers build big lead, hold on for 61-49 road win

Racing out to an 18-1 lead at the end of the first quarter of its game at Pratt Community College on Wednesday, the Cowley College women's basketball team never trailed in a 61-49 victory to finish the regular season. With the win, the Lady Tigers earn the fifth-seed in the Region VI Playoffs and will host a rematch with Pratt Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

"Pratt is a difficult place to get a road win," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said. "If we don't start the game like we did, I am not sure we get out of there with a win."

Pratt scored 14 straight points to open the second quarter and trailed only 25-20 at the end of the first half.

Cowley would go on to score the first four points of the third quarter and opened a 44-35 lead heading into the final quarter of play. Holding onto a slim 49-43 advantage, Cowley got a three-pointer by freshman Carson Dean as they out-scored Pratt 12-6 over the final four minutes.

Dean played a complete game and led Cowley with 16 points, nine rebounds and seven assists.

"Carson made some really good decisions with the basketball and had a big game for us," Clark said.

Sophomore Shamahra Henderson also played well and finished with 14 points, four rebounds, and four steals on 6-of-9 shooting from the floor. 

"Shamahra does a lot of things for us and has really improved since she got here," Clark said.

Cowley (18-11), which finished the regular season with a conference record of 14-10, held Pratt to 27.6 percent shooting. Christy Wiebe led Pratt with 12 points, but made only 4-of-22 shots from the floor, including going 1-of-14 from three-point range. Chariah Daniels added 11 points, 13 rebounds, seven steals and five assists.

Pratt (3-25) finishes the regular season with a record of 2-22 in the Jayhawk Conference.

The two teams will now prepare to face each other for a third time when they square off Saturday at 5:30 p.m. in the First-Round of the Region VI Playoffs held inside W.S. Scott Auditorium. The winner will advance to play at fourth-seeded Barton Community College (18-12) Tuesday at 6 p.m.

"Playing at home Saturday is huge for us, especially since we will be playing Pratt back-to-back," Clark said. "We need to find a way to get a win and move on to the next round."

Box score:

Cowley (61): Milena Fromming 3-8 0-0 9, Baylee Fincher 1-10 2-2 5, Carson Dean 6-12 2-4 16, Shamahra Henderson 6-9 1-2 14, Martyna Kowalska 4-6 1-2 9, Onnahili Williams 0-3 0-0 0, Jana Radovanovic 1-3 0-0 3, Lexi Rose 2-4 0-1 5, Lorette Chene 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 23-55 6-11 61.

Pratt (49): Chariah Daniels 3-8 5-6 11, Cassie Onwugbufor 2-9 1-2 5, Christy Wiebe 4-22 3-4 12, Karolina Juresiute 3-9 2-2 11, Lianna Washington 1-4 0-0 2, Ruth Sodipe 3-5 2-7 8, Grace Hendrickson 0-1 0-0 0, Demi Saenz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-58 13-21 49.

Three-pointers: Cowley 9-28 (Fromming 3-7, Dean 2-3, Fincher 1-8, Radovanovic 1-3, Rose 1-3, Henderson 1-2, Williams 0-2), Pratt 4-27 (Juresiute 3-8, Wiebe 1-14, Onwugbufor 0-2, Washington 0-2, Hendrickson 0-1). Rebounds: Cowley 30 (Dean 9), Pratt 39 (Daniels 13). Assists: Cowley 19 (Dean 7), Pratt 12 (Daniels 5). Turnovers: Cowley 18, Pratt 23. Total fouls: Cowley 16, Pratt 13. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.