No. 10 Lady Saints Earn Important Win In Arkansas City

ARKANSAS CITY, Kan. – It was a battle of top two Jayhawk teams in Arkansas City on Saturday, with the No. 10 Seward County women's basketball team defeating the No. 22 Cowley Lady Tigers 70-58. The win gave the Lady Saints a two-game lead over Cowley in the standings.

The two ranked teams traded baskets over the first three minutes.  With Cowley leading 8-7 with 6:47 on the clock, Vilma Covane hit one of two from the charity stripe to tie the game before Mollie Mounsey connected on a three-point basket on the left wing to give the Lady Saints their first lead of the game, 11-8.  The Lady Tigers responded with a 6-0 run to give Cowley a 14-11 lead with just over a minute to play in the quarter.  Cowley kept the lead at the end of one, 17-15.

The Lady Saints amped up their defensive intensity in the second quarter.  Seward immediately tied up the game to start the second quarter.  Four straight points from Kalen Green gave the Lady Saints a 21-19 lead with 6:49 left in the half.  Scoring slowed down until Cowley connected on a three with 1:44 to play to make the score 24-21.  Covane answered the Lady Tigers on the next possession with a contested layup, before Chelsea Lazenby hit a 24-foot three from the top of the key to give the Lady Saints a 26-24 lead at halftime.

The Lady Saints shot 35.7 percent (10 of 28) from the floor in the first half and 29.4 percent (5 of 17) from behind the arc.  Cowley shot 39.3 percent (11 of 28) from the field and 25.0 percent (2 of 8) from deep.  Seward forced the Lady Tigers into 14 first half turnovers.

Sidney Tinner came out in the third quarter hitting back-to-back three pointers to put the lady Saints up 32-27. At the 4:28 mark, Amy Scott put the Lady Saints up 10 points with a three. Tinner followed with another three to put the Lady Saints up 44-31. Seward kept their distance the remainder of the quarter, taking a 51-37 lead into the fourth quarter.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Lady Tigers went on a 5-0 run cut the lead back to single digits at 53-45. Scott ended the run with a three, beginning a 6-0 run to push the lead back to double-digits.  With under two minutes to play, Cowley cut the lead to six points, with the score 59-53.  Seward stopped the Cowley momentum, ending the game on an 11-5 run to win the game 70-58.

Seward shot 41.7 percent (25 of 60) from the field and 36.4 percent (12 of 33) from deep.  Cowley shot 41.4 percent (24 of 58) from the floor and 25.0 percent (4 of 16) from behind the arc.

The top two defensive teams didn't disappoint, with the Lady Saints forcing 18 turnovers off of 14 steals and Cowley forcing 17 turnovers off of eight steals.

Three Lady Saints scored in double-figures, with Sidney Tinner leading the way with 16 points.  Vilma Covane (14 pts) and Valerie Caro (11 pts) joined Tinner in double-digits.

The Lady Saints will return to the Greenhouse on February 7 to take on the Coffeyville Red Ravens at 6:00 p.m. The game will be free for all fans thanks to an anonymous member of the community.  Free tickets can be picked up at Freddy's, Pizza Hut, Community Bank, First National Bank, Old Chicago and Chrysler Corner.