'Hound women fall in defensive struggle

ARKANSAS CITY -- Cowley's women improved more offensively in the second half than Fort Scott Community College's women did and went on to a 47-37 victory in a very defensive-oriented Jayhawk Conference-Eastern Division contest here Wednesday night.

The halftime score was 15-13 in Cowley's favor even though the Tigers didn't make a field goal in the final 15 minutes of play.

Brittany Demery scored 6 straight points for the Greyhounds (4-11 East, 12-15 overall) to give them an 11-8 lead with around nine minutes left in the half. Cowley (11-5, 18-9) held Fort Scott to one field goal the rest of the way while it took the lead by making 7 of 9 free throws over the last 8:38.

Fort Scott scored 8 of the first 9 points of the second half to go up 21-16 by the 15-minute mark. Cowley's Gianna Woods broke the Tigers' field-goal drought shortly after that -- a streak that lasted nearly 20 minutes of game time -- with a layup that sparked a 15-4 run that saw them go up 31-25 with around 8 1/2 minutes remaining.

Demery brought the 'Hounds within 39-36 with just over three minutes left on a 3-point play. But Cowley held off the Tigers by scoring 8 of the last 9 points of the game, including the last 6 of the contest.

Woods and Ariana Silva scored 12 points each for Cowley and Jasamyne Saunders added 10.

Shadara Hampton led the Greyhounds with 14 points while Demery chipped in with 11.

Fort Scott shot just 25 percent from the field in the game, making 15 of 59 field-goal attempts and going 5 of 29 from 3-point range. Cowley over came a 3-of-20 first half to finish at 36 percent on 15 of 42. The Tigers took just 4 3-point shots and made one.

Fort Scott outrebounded Cowley, 42-28. The 'Hounds turned the ball over 25 times and had only 3 steals themselves.

The Greyhounds return to Arnold Arena to host Labette Saturday at 2 p.m.

NOTES -- Valencia Kelly missed her third straight game with strep throat...

Fort Scott's women have never won a game in which they scored fewer than 40 points....

FORT SCOTT: Bloodworth 2 0-2 4, Teich 1 0-0 3, Hampton 5 1-2 14, Mattox 1 0-0 3, Demery 5 1-1 11, Hathaway 1 0-0 2, Okoronkwo 0 0-0 0, Jackson 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 15-59 2-5 37.

COWLEY: Saunders 3 4-6 10, Silva 2 8-9 12, Vieyra 0 0-0 0, Lee 3 0-0 6, Gonzalez 0 0-0 0, Sonka 3 0-0 7, Woods 4 4-6 12. TOTALS: 15-42 16-21 47.

Halftime: Cowley, 15-13.

Three-point field goals: Fort Scott 5-29 (Hampton 3, Teich, Mattox), Cowley 1-4 (Sonka).

Total fouls: Fort Scott 18, Cowley 14. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.

Rebounds: Fort Scott 42, Cowley 28. Assists: n/a. Turnovers; Fort Scott 25, Cowley 20. Steals: Fort Scott 3, Cowley 14. Blocked shots: n/a.