Balanced effort leads Lady Tigers to 71-48 win at Colby

After a slow start to its game at Colby on Sunday, the Cowley College women's basketball team came alive to snap a four-game road losing skid by a score of 71-48.

With both teams struggling to score in the opening quarter, Cowley led 9-8 after the first 10 minutes of play. Getting rare contributions from its bench, the Lady Tigers would score 20 second-quarter points and went into halftime with a 29-25 advantage against a Lady Trojan team that is coached by former Lady Tiger head coach Darin Spence.

"I thought Darin and his team did a great job of having us off balance in that first half," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

However, freshman Jaiden Smith hit three of her five three-pointers in the third quarter to help Cowley bust the game open. The Lady Tigers outscored Colby 27-10 in the third quarter and went into the final quarter of play with a 56-35 lead.

"It was good to see us get after it a bit more in that third quarter," Clark said.

Cowley's lead would grow to 64-39 following a basket by Hattie Pyle midway through the fourth quarter, and the Lady Tigers would cruise to the 23-point road win.

Cowley had a season-high 10 players score in the victory and was led by Smith's 17 points, while Pyle added 13 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and three steals.

"Hattie is always in the mix and plays aggressive," Clark said.

The Lady Tigers got a season-high 22 points from its bench.

"That was huge for us," Clark said. "It was nice to see those kids do well and reward them with some playing time."

Ayanna Perez led Colby with 18 points but shot only 5-of-17 from the floor as Cowley held Colby to 30 percent shooting.

Cowley is now 13-13 overall and 7-13 in the Jayhawk Conference, while Colby falls to 6-18 overall and 2-17 in the conference.

The Lady Tigers will return home to face Independence (14-11) on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in the team's homecoming game. The Pirates, who are coming off a 94-63 home win over Cloud County, are just in front of Cowley in the conference standings with a record of 8-11.

"Indy has a good club, so we will need to be ready to hook up and get after it," Clark said. "This is a win we need."

Box score:

Cowley (71): Zuzanna Komor 1-6 3-4 6, Ndack Mbengue 1-2 4-4 6, Anna Przyszlak 3-10 1-3 7, Hattie Pyle 4-10 5-5 13, Jaiden Smith 6-12 0-0 17, Wiktoria Podrouzek 1-1 0-0 3, Josephine Vourliotis 2-11 1-2 6, Destiny Yates 2-3 0-0 5, Lily Rhomberg 1-1 0-0 3, Georgia Knight 1-5 2-2 5.

Colby (48): Sophie Bennett 5-10 0-2 13, Stella McIntyre 0-4 0-0 0, Sofia Lopez 3-9 2-2 8, Noella Biduaya 1-5 0-0 2, Sheila Lee 0-0 0-0 0, Aryanna Perez 5-17 4-4 18, Kamely Brito Brenes 1-6 0-0 3, Allana Curry 0-0 0-0 0, Dye Boiro Balde 1-1 2-4 4, Myla Chin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-52 8-12 48.

Three-pointers: Cowley 11-32 (Smith 5-9, Vourliotis 1-8, Knight 1-5, Komor 1-2, Yates 1-2, Podrouzek 1-1, Rhomberg 1-1, Przyszlak 0-3, Pyle 0-1), Colby 8-25 (Perez 4-11, Bennett 3-6, Brenes 1-5, McIntyre 0-3). Rebounds: Cowley 41 (Mbengue, Przyszlak 9), Colby 32 (Bennett 7). Assists: Cowley 17 (Pyle 5), Colby 9 (Lopez 4). Turnovers: Cowley 17, Colby 22. Total fouls: Cowley 19, Colby 20. Fouled out: Mbengue, Brenes. Technicals: Colby team.