Martinez’s big night lifts Cowley to 81-66 road win

Cowley College sophomore Elysa Martinez helped the Lady Tigers pick up an 81-66 win at Cloud County on Saturday by scoring 14 of her game-high 29 points in the final quarter of play.

Martinez, the nation's leader in steals, added four steals to give her 80 on the season as Cowley improved its record to 11-5 overall and 6-5 in the Jayhawk Conference. Cloud County (10-4) is now 5-4 in the conference.

On Saturday, Cowley led 17-14 after one quarter and got 18 points of bench production while outscoring the T-Birds 27-23 in the second quarter to lead 44-37 after one half of play.

The Lady Tigers' lead would grow to 61-43 following a three-pointer by Destiny Yates, and Cowley would hold on to a 65-52 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

Twice in the final quarter, the T-Birds would cut Cowley's lead to single digits, and both times, Martinez would answer with a basket to push the Lady Tigers' lead back to double figures as Cowley went on to the 15-point victory.

"Elysa gives maximum effort all the time and was really big for us," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

Yates joined Martinez in double figures with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

"I thought Destiny locked down really well defensively and had a really good game all around," Clark said.

Yates and Martinez each hit three shots from beyond the arc, and the Lady Tigers finished 12-of-39 from three-point range.

Freshman Rafa Bergonso also played well, finishing with nine points off the bench.

Talasia Thomas led Cloud County with 20 points and 15 rebounds, but the T-Birds' 29 turnovers led to 35 Cowley points.

The Lady Tigers will attempt to make it three wins in a row when they host Butler on Saturday at 1 p.m. The Lady Grizzlies (11-4) are tied for fourth place in the conference, one-half game in front of Cowley with a conference record of 6-4.

"You always have your hands full with Butler, so we will need to play well and try to be competitive," Clark said.

Box score:

Cowley (81): Jaiden Smith 2-13 0-0 5, Destiny Yates 4-7 2-2 13, Hattie Pyle 2-5 0-2 4, Elysa Martinez 12-24 2-3 29, Georgia Knight 1-4 0-0 3, Keturah Stewart 0-1 0-0 0, Mallory Jackson 1-2 1-4 3, Rafa Bergonso 2-2 4-5 9, Alexcia Murphy 3-8 0-2 7, Jamie Molina 2-8 2-2 8. Totals: 29-74 11-20 81.

Cloud (66): Bre Frazier 3-9 1-2 8, Talasia Thomas 6-11 8-13 20, DaNae Crosby 1-3 2-3 4, TiAna Davis 3-12 0-0 7, Lilliana Petersen 2-7 3-4 7, Kiley Smich 2-3 1-1 5, Lauren Marron 0-2 0-0 0, Meilin Guo 0-0 0-0 0, Shea Wurtz 5-5 4-5 15. Totals: 22-52 19-28 66.

Three-pointers: Cowley 12-39 (Martinez 3-9, Yates 3-4, Molina 2-6, Smith 1-11, Knight 1-4, Bergonso 1-1, Murphy 1-1, Pyle 0-2, Stewart 0-1), Cloud 3-13 (Davis 1-6, Frazier 1-2, Wurtz 1-1, Petersen 0-2, Marron 0-2). Rebounds: Cowley 38 (Murphy 8), Cloud 44 (Thomas 15). Assists: Cowley 15 (Yates 6), Cloud 12 (Crosby 5). Turnovers: Cowley 13, Cloud 29. Total fouls: Cowley 19, Cloud 21. Fouled out: Murphy, Frazier. Technicals: none.