Lady Tigers roll to 61-37 win in opener

Limiting the visiting Southwestern College JV to only 27.3 percent shooting from the floor, the Cowley College women's basketball team opened the season with a 61-37 victory Monday night at W.S. Scott Auditorium.

The Lady Tigers held the Lady Builders to only four made baskets in the first half as they took a 28-12 lead into halftime. Cowley's lead would grow to 30-12 after a basket by sophomore Maylisa Johnson to open the second half. However, Southwestern answered with a 9-0 run to cut the Lady Tigers' lead to 30-21 with 13:22 remaining. Seven of the Lady Builder's nine points during the run came from the free-throw line as Cowley was called for 10 fouls in the first seven minutes of the second half.

Arianni Silva, the Lady Tigers' leading returning scorer, knocked down a jumper to push Cowley's lead back to double digits and scored 12 of her 14 points in the final 13 minutes of play.

"She really picked it up in the second half and got herself going," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.
Clark had his team switch to a zone defense and go to a full court press with eight minutes remaining and Cowley responded by going on a 11-0 run to bust the game open.

"That kind of helped us get out of a funk," Clark said.

Maylisa Johnson finished with 13 points and five rebounds in the win. The sophomore from Okmulgee, OK, scored nine of her 13 points in the opening half of play.

"I thought May was huge for us and was real aggressive in the first half, looking to score," Clark said.
Freshman forward Symone Murray from Toronto, Canada added eight points in her debut for the Lady Tigers.

Cowley will play a second straight home game on Wednesday when they host Murray State College at 8 p.m.

"We will have to execute better offensively because it will be a whole different animal on Wednesday," Clark said.

Box score:
Southwestern JV (37): Sheri Zoglmann 7, Taylor Posey 5, Jamie Zoschak 5, Zefiryn Bryan 5, Kristy Herman 3, Robbie Dawn Lee 3, Courtney Watson 2, Kayla Thomas 2, Courtney Putman 2, Sarah Amrein 2, Malynn Sheets 1.

Cowley (61): Arianni Silva 14, Maylisa Johnson 13, Symone Murray 8, Breanna Bryant 7, Clarissa Cannon 6, Lulu Meadows 5, Toni Peetom 2, Davi Peetom 2, Lisa Angell 2, Ashley Lauer 2.

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