Web posted
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Lady Tigers end second-round skid
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Photo by David Wolman
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By DAVID WOLMAN
Traveler Sports Editor
sports@arkcity.net
WICHITA -- When "Bebe" Holloway rose to her feet after taking a charge with 2:26 remaining, she hobbled down the court on the first few steps she took.
"I had just a little bit (of energy)," Holloway said. "I knew I had to do it for the team so we can get that big win."
Holloway's pain was an accumulation of the physical toll she took for battling opponents in the air for loose rebounds and hustling to the sidelines to record steals.
The five-foot-10 freshman wasn't complaining. She didn't mind taking her share of bumps and bruises for the team. She knew a season was on the line.
Holloway's energy seeped down to her teammates, and she finished with 17 rebounds and 14 points in leading Cowley College to a 67-52 win over Seward County in a Region VI Tournament semifinal on Friday evening at Koch Arena.
"You don't have to get her going," Cowley coach Todd Clark said of Holloway. "She's got a big motor when she gets juiced up. I thought she did a really good job."
Nothing illegal in Holloway's system. Just pure desire.
Friday win ended a five-game losing streak in the second round of the tournament for the Lady Tigers -- their first win in the second round since the 2002-03 season. Cowley advances to Monday's 1 p.m. semifinal against Cloud County, who recorded an easy 77-47 win over Coffeyville in Friday's nightcap. Seward County finished the season 23-9.
Coming into Friday's game, Cowley talked about getting off to a good start -- mainly pushing the ball in transition.
The last two times Clark's teams have played Seward County, the Lady Tigers found themselves down by almost 20 points. He knew a good start was important in Friday's game.
"I told them before hand that if we didn't, they were going to bury us," Clark said. "It was nice to get a couple of shots and get off to a good lead."
Elena Yankova scored the first five points of the game. Lauren Cherry then hit a baseline jumper to give the Lady Tigers to a 21-9 lead just 9 1/ 2 minutes in.
Yankova finished with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-19 shooting. Gabbie Curtis added 12 points and seven rebounds. Whitney Williams chipped in 10 points. Cherry snagged 12 rebounds and six points.
Holloway and Cherry sparked Cowley's effort on the rebounds. The Lady Tigers outworked Seward County on the glass most of the evening. Holloway and Cherry combined to almost match Seward County's total number of rebounds. Holloway and Cherry combined to grab 29 of Cowley's 51 rebounds, compared to just 34 for Seward County.
"Both of those kids are very good athletes," Clark said of Holloway and Cherry.
But what concerned Cowley coach Todd Clark left him feeling worried and scrambling to make adjustments at intermission.
Seward County, who shot 41.1 percent on the season entering Friday's game, saw its perimeter game come alive in the final three minutes -- in particular, Tegan Cunningham.
Cunningham, Seward County's all-time leading scorer, came in averaging 21.5 points. She haunted Cowley over the final couple minutes of the first half. She scored seven points over that stretch, including a short putback with two seconds remaining, to get the Lady Saints to within 30-26 at halftime.
Making defensive adjustments on Cunningham was a topic of discussion during halftime.
"That's the main thing we talked about," Clark said. "We just plain left her open a bunch. We went to a box-and-one and Lauren chased her and Lauren did a great job on her. Lauren made her work hard. We got fortunate that way."
Concerned about a momentum shift heading into the second half?
Not the Lady Tigers.
Cowley (21-11) never let its guard down, opening the third quarter on a 6-2 run to regain an eight-point lead. Cunningham had 10 points in the first half, but finished with 14.
However, the Lady Saints kept firing away, be it from the perimeter or down low. Whenever Cowley made a basket or two in succession in the second half, Seward County responded.
Seward County continued its three-point barrage early in the second half. After making five three-pointers in the first half, the Lady Saints buried four attempts in the second half.
After Haley Rogers made a three-pointer with 7:54 remaining, she hit a jumper on Seward County's next possession to cut Cowley's lead to 52-46.
Clark always stresses energy to his team, but he didn't know if they would have enough left in the tank by the second half.
"I didn't know if we can keep up with them," he said. "I just thought the pace was really fast. We were pretty fortunate to get by."
Rogers finished with 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting, including 2-of-3 on three-pointers. Stephanie Rolen led Seward County with 16 points, but only connected on 5-of-17 attempts, including 4-of-12 from behind the arc.
There was a feeling of concern in the air among the Cowley faithful in attendance after Rogers' basket had brought the Lady Saints to within six points. Not so for the Lady Tigers.
"We just knew that we had to work harder and stop what they were doing," Holloway said. "So, that's what we did."
Seward County had numerous looks from behind the arc, but made only 9-of-30 three-point attempts and finished shooting 31.3 percent, overall.
"We were very fortunate because coach talked to us and said that they don't have much of an inside game, but we had to watch to see who their shooters were," Holloway said. "We did that."
Cowley then put the finishing touches on the game.
Holloway made an open layup off a nice bounce pass by Lauren Cherry with just over two minutes remaining, part of a 15-6 Lady Tigers run to close out the game.
Box score:
Cowley -- Yankova 8-19 2-2 20; Holloway 6-10 2-4 14; Curtis 6-16 0-1 12; Williams 5-9 0-0 10; Cherry 3-6 0-0 6; Jackson 1-5 0-0 3; Goodrum 0-0 1-2 1; Wright 0-1 1-2 1; Totals 29-66 6-11 67.
Seward County -- Rhoten 5-17 2-2 16; Cunningham 6-22 0-2 14; Rogers 4-5 0-0 10; Pierson 2-3 1-2 5; Noel 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 20-64 3-6 52.
Halftime -- Cowley 30, Seward County 26. Three's -- Seward County 9-30 (Rhoten 4, Cunningham 2, Rogers 2, Binford); Cowley 3-12 (Yankova 2, Jackson).
Rebounds -- Seward County 34 (Cunningham 9); Cowley 51 (Holloway 17). Assists -- Seward County: 13 (Krause 4); Cowley: 16 (Cherry 7). Technicals: none.
Above: Cowley College freshman Whitney Williams (32) goes up for a jump shot during the first half of Friday evening's Region VI Tournament quarterfinal at Koch Arena in Wichita. Williams finished with 10 points in Cowley's 67-52 win over Seward County.
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