From RAMA PEROO/Cowley College
The No. 8-ranked Cowley College men’s basketball team had a rare off night Saturday at Cloud County, which turned into a 78-62 defeat. The loss snapped the Tigers’ 13-game winning streak.
Cowley is now 15-2 overall and 10-1 in the Jayhawk Conference. The Tigers remain a half-game in front of Barton and Hutchinson for first place in the conference. Cloud is now 12-4 overall and 7-3 in conference play.
On Saturday, the T-Birds scored the game’s first seven points and led by as many as 12 points (26-14) before settling for a 37-30 halftime lead.
Cowley chipped away at the deficit and trailed just 46-45 following a pair of free throws by freshman Leslie Owens with 13:23 left in the second half.
The Tigers trailed 59-55 with just under six minutes remaining but were out-scored 19-7 the rest of the way.
“We got out-played, out-coached, and out-toughed,” Cowley head coach Donnie Jackson said. “We have been playing with fire for a couple of weeks, and we need to get back to defending and doing the tough things. I take full responsibility. Credit to Cloud.”
The T-Birds shot over 50 percent from the field by going 23-of-45 from the floor, including a season-high 27 made free throws (27-of-39). Cowley was limited to a 38.2 percent (21-of-55) shooting effort and five-of-20 mark from three.
Cowley was led by a game-high 21 points from Azhonte Dallas. Jeff Nwankwo added 17 points and nine rebounds, while freshman Shamarrie Hugie came off the bench to score 10 points before fouling out in only 13 minutes of action.
Cloud had five players score at least 10 points, with JaRon Briggs Jr. scoring a team-high 17 points, with 11 points coming from the free-throw line.
Cowley will attempt to start a new winning streak when they host No. 20-ranked Butler Community College on Sunday at 3 p.m. The Grizzlies are 13-3 overall and 8-2 in the Jayhawk Conference.
“We have a bye week to try to get our mojo back,” Jackson said. “We had a nice run during the streak. We have to get back to the roots of what allowed us to have success during that run. Butler is the real deal, and we will need to be ready.”
Cloud County rallies late to defeat Lady Tigers 71-68
The Cowley College women’s basketball team had its three-game winning streak snapped with a 71-68 loss at Cloud County Saturday in Concordia, KS. The T-Birds out-scored Cowley 13-4 over the final 3:51 to overcome a late six-point deficit.
Cowley is now 10-7 overall and 4-7 in the Jayhawk Conference. Cloud County, winners of four games in a row, improves to 10-5 overall and 6-4 in the conference.
Trailing 17-12 after one-quarter of play, Cowley erupted for a 25-point second quarter, giving them a 37-34 halftime lead. Lady Tiger freshman Jaiden Smith, who finished with a career-high 24 points on 6-of-11 shooting from three-point range, hit four three-pointers and scored 14 points in the second quarter.
The teams traded baskets in the third quarter, with Cowley heading to the fourth quarter with a 53-51 advantage.
A pair of free throws by sophomore Ndack Mbengue with 3:51 remaining increased Cowley’s lead to 64-58. Cloud County fought back and went in front 68-66 following a layup by the T-Birds’ Darcy Lierz with 40 seconds left.
Trailing 69-66, Smith was fouled with three seconds left and made both free throws to pull Cowley within one. The Lady Tigers then fouled Josephine Igherighe who pushed the T-Birds’ lead back to three at 71-68 with 1.8 seconds remaining as the Tigers used their final timeout to advance the ball into the frontcourt. Needing a three-pointer to force overtime, Cloud forced a contested three from Anna Przyszlak that was off the mark as time expired.
“Cloud finished the game, and we did not,” Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.
Reigning KJCCC and NJCAA Division I Player of the Week Mimouna Sissoko finished with 10 points and 21 rebounds, while Igherighe scored a team-high 20 points on six-of-10 shooting with a perfect eight-of-eight effort from the free throw line.
Along with Smith’s 24 points, she added six steals and five rebounds. Mbengue came off the bench to record a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Hattie Pyle and Przyszlak combined for 24 points but made only 6-of-33 shots from the floor.
Cowley will have some time off before hosting No. 8-ranked Butler Community College in a Sunday afternoon matchup at 1 p.m. The Lady Grizzlies are 14-2 overall and in third place in the conference with a record of 8-2.
The box score can be found at https://www.cowleytigers.com/sports/wbkb/2023-24/boxscores/20240113_rsls.xml?view=boxscore.
