Lady Saints Hang On For Win at #17 Cowley
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Seward County Community College | 17 | 24 | 17 | 18 | 76 |
|
Cowley College | 9 | 20 | 16 | 30 | 75 |
The #20 Seward County Lady Saints controlled the pace for about 39:30 against the #17 Cowley Lady Tigers Wednesday night in Arkansas City before hanging on for a ride in the final 30 seconds to come away with a one point, 76-75 win to improve to 8-0 on the year.
It was a good start on the road Wednesday for the Lady Saints as Mollie Mounsey drained a pair of early threes to give Seward a 17-9 lead over Cowley after one in Ark City. The Lady Saints held Cowley to just three first quarter field goals, all coming from beyond the arc to build their eight point early lead.
The Tigers came out firing in the second, scoring seven of the first ten points to draw back to within four at 20-16. As the pace continued to quicken, the Lady Saints pushed their advantage to seven at 31-24 by the midway point of the quarter and got four straight points from Clitan de Sousa to close the half, giving Seward County a 41-29 lead at the break. The Lady Saints shot 44% from the field in the first half while slowing the Tiger attack by forcing 12 Cowley turnovers.
As they did in the second, the Tigers made another early run in the third, this one an 8-0 burst to slice into the Seward lead, cutting the Lady Saints cushion to just six at 43-37. A 5-1 answer by Seward pushed their lead back to double digits and the Lady Saints finished the quarter strong, holding a 58-45 lead after three.
The Lady Saints stretched their lead to 15 early in the fourth and took their largest lead of the night at 18 midway through the period. But just as things looked in control for the gals in green, the Tigers started to push back. Cowley outscored Seward by 10 over the next 4:20 to make it an eight point game before Mounsey drained another big three to push the Lady Saints lead back to 11 with 1:30 remaining. With 37 seconds left, Seward continued to hold a double digit lead at 74-64, but a furious Tiger rally erased the Lady Saints lead all the way down to three with five seconds remaining with the ball in Cowley's hands with a chance to tie. A last ditch effort for Cowley to tie the game was off the mark and the Tigers put in a rebound to make it a one point game with just 1/10 of a second left and with that the Lady Saints held on for a 76-75 victory to escape Ark City with their undefeated record still intact.
Mounsey and de Sousa led the Lady Saints with career nights as Mounsey scored a seasons best 28 to lead all scorers and de Sousa set career highs in both points with 25 and rebounds with 13 for Seward.
Seward improves to 8-0 overall and 6-0 in Jayhawk Conference play on the year and picks up their second win over a top 20 ranked opponent on the season. Cowley drops their second game of the year as they fall to 8-2 overall and 4-2 in league action.
The Lady Saints will be tested again on Saturday night in the Greenhouse as they welcome the Coffeyville Red Ravens to Liberal for a 6:00 tip. Free tickets are available courtesy of our buyout sponsors Holiday Inn and Flooring America, at their Liberal locations as well as at Pizza Hut and Hutch's in North Liberal.