Martinez and Murphy help Cowley get past Colby 54-46
Facing former Cowley College head women’s basketball coach Darin Spence and his Colby Trojans on Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium, the Cowley College Lady Tigers won the defensive battle by a score of 54-46.
Facing former Cowley College head women's basketball coach Darin Spence and his Colby Trojans on Saturday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium, the Cowley College Lady Tigers won the defensive battle by a score of 54-46.
Cowley head coach Todd Clark, an assistant under Spence from 1997-2000, got the better of his mentor on Saturday.
The victory was the second in a row for the Lady Tigers as they improved to 15-8 overall and 10-8 in the Jayhawk Conference. Colby is now 13-11 overall and 8-10 in conference play.
On Saturday, sophomore Elysa Martinez scored 10 of her game-high 19 points in the first quarter as Cowley built a 22-11 lead. The Lady Tigers would lead by as many as 16 points (27-11) before going into halftime with a 30-19 advantage.
After not playing in the game's first 20 minutes, Cowley freshman Alexcia Murphy made her presence felt in the third quarter as she scored 10 points, and her putback, as the quarter ended, helped the Lady Tigers head into the fourth quarter with a 44-35 lead.
Holding onto a 48-41 lead midway through the final quarter, Martinez buried a three-pointer to push Cowley's lead back to double figures, and the Lady Tigers went on to the eight-point win.
Murphy joined Martinez in double figures with 14 points and eight rebounds.
"Colby took us out of a lot of things, but I thought Elysa and Alexcia were really good offensively," Clark said. "We were also solid defensively and were happy to get the win."
Colby shot just 32.6 percent and was led by Ishante Suttington's 17 points.
The Lady Tigers will attempt to make it three wins in a row when they play at Independence on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Pirates are 2-21 overall and 1-16 in the Jayhawk Conference.
Cowley defeated Independence by a score of 88-34 on December 11 in Arkansas City.
Box score:
Colby (46): Sophie Bennett 1-7 2-2 4, Logan Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Sofia Lopez 1-4 0-2 2, Ishante Suttington 6-15 4-4 17, Easha Potts 1-4 0-0 2, Adrian Neal 0-0 0-0 0, Jera Kruleski 1-3 0-0 2, Piri Lewis 1-3 0-0 2, Dessirae Ulmer 3-7 8-9 14, Kylee Hahn 1-2 0-0 3. Totals: 15-46 14-17 46.
Cowley (54): Jaiden Smith 2-7 2-3 7, Mallory Jackson 2-4 0-0 4, Destiny Yates 0-3 2-2 2, Hattie Pyle 0-10 0-0 0, Elysa Martinez 7-13 3-5 19, Keturah Stewart 1-1 0-0 3, Rafa Bergonso 1-3 0-0 3, Alexcia Murphy 7-11 0-0 14, Georgia Knight 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 21-54 7-10 54.
Three-pointers: Colby 2-13 (Suttington 1-7, Hahn 1-1, Bennett 0-2, Potts 0-1, Kruleski 0-1, Lewis 0-1), Cowley 5-22 (Martinez 2-7, Smith 1-5, Bergonso 1-3, Stewart 1-1, Yates 0-3, Pyle 0-3). Rebounds: Colby 29 (Bennett 7), Cowley 26 (Murphy 8). Assists: Colby 6 (Bennett 3), Cowley 9 (Pyle 4). Turnovers: Colby 12, Cowley 12. Total fouls: Colby 20, Cowley 17. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.