Lady Tiger basketball team suffers first defeat, 71-65, at Seward

After opening the season with seven straight victories, the Cowley College women's basketball team was handed its first defeat Tuesday in Liberal, KS, as the Seward County Lady Saints slipped past the Lady Tigers by a score of 71-65.

After a close first quarter in which Seward led 16-14 after 10 minutes of play, the Saints scored the first nine points of the second quarter to open a double-figure lead at 25-14. However, Cowley would close the half on a 16-4 run to lead 30-29 at the intermission.

Sophomore Ndack Mbengue, who led Cowley with 21 points and 12 rebounds, already had a double-double at halftime with 12 points and 10 boards.

Seward's Aliana Colon would knock down back-to-back three-pointers to close the third quarter and put the Saints in front 51-49 heading into the final quarter of play.

With Seward clinging to a 62-61 lead late in the game, the Saints would use a 7-0 run to bust the game open and then held on to win 71-65.

Seward's Jamia Carter continued the strong start to her season by pouring in a game-high 22 points on 8-of-11 shooting while draining all three of her three-point attempts.

Cowley sophomore Anna Przyszlak joined Mbengue with a double-double, finishing with 17 points and 10 rebounds. However, the rest of the team combined to go 10-of-37 shooting from the floor.

Cowley is now 7-1 overall and 1-1 in the Jayhawk Conference, while Seward improves to 4-1 and 1-1 in conference play.

The Lady Tigers will return home to face No. 24-ranked Coffeyville Saturday at 1 p.m. The Red Ravens are also 7-1 overall but are tied for first in the conference with Garden City with a record of 2-0.