Sophomore-laden Lady Tigers hoping experience will pay off

Entering year number 21 as head coach of the Cowley College women's basketball team, Todd Clark is cautiously optimistic about the team he has assembled going into the 2024-25 season.

Clark and new assistant coach Vance Lee return three starters from last season's team to go along with a pair of transfers. However, injuries have plagued the team in the offseason, so being healthy will be key.

Sophomore Hattie Pyle, the team's leading returning scorer and rebounder, who averaged 11.8 points and 5.6 rebounds as a freshman, will be out at the start of the season due to a hand injury.

However, Jaden Smith returns after a solid freshman season in which she averaged 10.6 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. Smith hit a team-high 74 three-pointers and provided the team with an outside threat.

Destiny Yates also returns after averaging 5.9 points and 2.5 assists per game during the 2023-24 season.

"We are expecting big things out of Jaden, and Destiny will run the team," Clark said.

Sophomore guard Georgia Knight is another returning player who gained more playing time at the end of her freshman season.

"The sophomores have been through it and are good leaders," Clark said. "We hope we can get the rest of the group to follow them along."

Fellow sophomore Jamie Molina recently joined the team and is a talented multi-sport athlete who was named a Second Team all-conference selection as a member of the Lady Tiger softball team as a freshman. Molina was named to the Oklahoma Girls Basketball Coaches Association all-state team while playing basketball at Frontier High School in Oklahoma.

Cowley will attempt to make up for the loss of Ndack Mbengue and Anna Przyszlak, who are now playing at NCAA Division I schools, the University of Texas El Paso and Lasalle University.

To help make up for the loss of Mbengue and Przyszlak, Cowley added international athletes Emma Daidone from Italy and Rafa Bergonso from Brazil. Daidone is a forward from Italy who was named the Most Valuable Player of the U16 Regional Championship, while Bergonso helped her team in high school place second in the Brazilian Championship.

"Emma does not have the size that Ndack and Anna had, but she can finish around the basket and plays hard," Clark said. "Rafa is a good shooter that we hope can develop into a player that will help us."

Cowley also added a pair of talented transfers. Elysa Martinez is a transfer from Howard College (TX), where she averaged 13.5 points and 3.7 rebounds per game for the Hawks. While, Keturah Stewart is a transfer from Jamestown Community College, where she averaged a team-high 15.6 points to go along with 4.1 rebounds per game. She was named an All-Region III selection.

"Elysa is a very good player, and we expect big things from her," Clark said.

Cowley also added freshman Alexcia Murphy, who scored over 1,500 points and grabbed over 1,000 rebounds while playing at Troup High School in Georgia, to go along with freshman guard Antonia McGuire, who was an Oklahoma All-State selection and the Heartland Conference Most Valuable Player after leading Kellyville High School to the state semifinals.

Mallory Jackson is another freshman from Oklahoma as the forward was a two-time Honorable Mention all-state selection who led Edmond North (OK) to a pair of state titles and a state runner-up finish.

"We don't have the size that we have had in the past, so we will want to play faster and with a little bit more pace," Clark said.

Cowley, picked eighth in the Jayhawk Conference, will open the season by playing six non-conference games before getting into conference play. Last season, the Lady Tigers placed eighth out of 13 teams in the Jayhawk Conference.

"The conference is as good as ever," Clark said. "We have got to overcome injuries, stay positive, and be competitive every day."