Lady Saints Offense Sputters in Road Loss to Cowley
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Seward County Community College (8-2, 1-1) | 14 | 11 | 27 | 9 | 61 |
|
Cowley College (12-2, 3-0) | 19 | 16 | 18 | 21 | 74 |
The Seward County Lady Saints and Cowley Lady Tigers have a long and storied history on the hardwood, but most of it has come under the bright lights of the Region VI Tournament. Saturday night the two met for the first time in 11 season in Arkansas City, Kansas in Jayhawk Conference action. Seward burst out of the gates hot, but cooled down considerably in the second quarter to watch the Tigers take a 10 point lead into the break at half. The Lady Saints cut the Cowley lead down to one after three, but couldn't get over the hump in the end as the Tigers came away with a 74-61 win to hand Seward their first Jayhawk Conference loss of the season.
It didn't take long for the 13th ranked Lady Saints to get things going early on against the Tigers as Daniela Galindo connected from three on Seward's first possession of the game and Axelle Bernard hit a jumper on the next to quickly put the Lady Saints in front 5-0. Two more Galindo threes early put Seward up 13-6 and it looked like the Lady Saints were set to start where they left off in Wednesday's blowout win at Allen. That quickly changed. A 13-1 Tiger run gave Cowley a 19-14 lead after one quarter of play and Cowley parlayed that into an 18-1 run as the second quarter began to go in front 21-14. Seward never found their footing in the second quarter and at the half it was all Cowley 35-25.
The Lady Saints hit on just 27% from the field in the half while Cowley connected on 43% overall and 54% from the three point line. Galindo led Seward with 12 first half points and was the only Lady Saint to have more than one field goal in the half.
It still wasn't looking pretty for the Lady Saints early in the third, but Galindo's fifth three of the game spurred a 10-0 Seward run to cut the Cowley lead to 45-43 with three minutes left in the quarter. The Lady Saints continued to push and after three quarters of play, were back to within one, 53-52. It seemed as if there was a lid on Seward's basket early in the fourth, but the Lady Saints relentlessness on the boards, allowed them multiple shots on nearly every trip down the floor. A second chance basket from Joanna Grymek got them back to within two and a four shot possession finally turned into a bucket to knot the game at 58 with 5:45 to go. Seward couldn't maintain the momentum as they went scoreless over the next 2:30 as Cowley went up five and back to back turnovers by the Lady Saints put them further in the hole as the Tigers took a 70-61 lead in the final minute of the game. Seward gave it their best effort down the stretch, but could never get back within striking distance of the Tigers as Cowley closed them out 74-61 to hand the Lady Saints their first Jayhawk defeat of the season.
The Lady Saints shot a season low 31% in the game and held Cowley to 38% shooting, but the Tigers connected on 48% from three point land in the win. Galindo finished with 19 points for Seward in the loss while Grymek scored 17 points and had a game high 13 rebounds. Axelle Bernard and Clitan de Sousa had solid nights on the boards with a combined 23 rebounds, but each struggled on the offensive end, combining to go 2 for 14 with just five points.
The loss drops the Lady Saints to 8-2 overall and 1-1 in Jayhawk play while Cowley improves to 12-2 overall and takes an early grip on the conference standings at 3-0.
The Lady Saints road won't get any easier as they will return home licking their wounds to take on the Butler Grizzlies on Wednesday night in the Greenhouse. Seward and Butler will get underway at 6:00.