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By RAMA PEROO
Cowley College

Playing without two of its top-four scorers, the Cowley College women's basketball team used a strong defensive effort to defeat Highland 52-43 Saturday at W.S. Scott Auditorium.

Cowley made up for not having injured starters Gabbie Curtis (11.3 points) and Bebe Holloway (7.9 points) in its lineup by holding the Lady Scotties to 28.8 percent shooting.

The Lady Tigers trailed just once at the start of the game as they improved to 15-11 overall and 10-4 in the Jayhawk Conference Eastern Division.

Elena Yankova picked up the scoring slack for the Lady Tigers as she scored 11 straight points during a 13-0 first half run, and finished with 24 points on 11-of-19 shooting from the floor. Fellow freshman Whitney Williams finished with 10 points and seven rebounds, while Noelle Jackson took advantage of her opportunity to start by scoring eight points..

"I don t know what we would have done without Elena's points," Cowley coach Todd Clark said. "She shot the ball real well. Our other players stepped up as well and Noelle came in and helped us." Sophomore Lauren Cherry also played well as she finished with seven points and six rebounds.

Cowley led 25-15 at the end of the first half and opened its lead to 38-23 after a basket by Yankova with 14:15 remaining in the game. Highland cut the Lady Tiger lead to 49-43 after a three-pointer by Amy Galey with 3:42 left to play, but Cowley would hold the Lady Scotties scoreless the rest of the way as they held on for the nine-point win.

Michaela Berg led Highland with 16 points in the defeat as the Lady Scotties are now 9-17 overall and 1-13 in the conference. Cowley will be back in action Wednesday when they host Labette at 5 p.m. in the team's homecoming game. The Lady Cardinals are currently in a three-way tie for first place in the Jayhawk East with a conference mark of 12-2.

Cowley suffered a 74-63 loss at Labette on Jan. 21. The Lady Cardinals' Dana Olsen finished with 35 points in the first meeting between the two teams.

"We want to prove we are better than what we showed the first time we played them," Clark said.