Garden City women close first semester with road loss in Ark City

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Arkansas City, KS-One quarter on Monday night cost Garden City dearly.

Martyna Kowalska and Baylee Fincher combined for 43 points on 14-of-24 shooting, and Cowley used a 20-point opening quarter to beat the Broncbusters 65-55 at W.S. Scott Auditorium. Garden City finished the first semester 10-3 overall and 5-3 in conference.

The Tigers shot 8-of-12 from the floor (67 percent) and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc in the opening frame, racing out to a 9-2 lead following Britney Mapang's giveaway that turned into a Milena Fromming 3-pointer from the wing. Fincher nailed a triple moments later, and Shamara Henderson drilled a long 2-pointer to give Cowley a 20-8 lead after one. Eventually, the Tigers stretched the advantage to 19 after Kowalska sank two free throws to make it 34-15 with 2:48 left in the half.

But the Broncbuster defense stiffened, holing Cowley scoreless the rest of the way. Ashton McCorry made two free throws, Derryana Cobbins hit a jump shot, and Garden City was down 13 at the break, 34-21.

Garden City made their push in the third quarter. McCorry's layup sliced the deficit to eight with 2:30 remaining. Moments later, Kealani Neves rattled home a jumper from inside the dotted circle before canning a 3-pointer to make it, 45-40. Dayshawna Carter followed with two free throws in the final seconds of the period, and the Broncbusters were within two, 46-44 going to the fourth.

But Antwain Scales' team could never get over the hump.

Fromming and Fincher swished back-to-back treys to begin the final stanza, and Kowalska split a pair of free throws to push Cowley's lead back to nine. It was all part of a 16-2 run, and when Carson Dean hit a contested 3, the Tigers had a 62-46 cushion with 4:19 remaining. Garden City never got it under 10 the rest of the way.

Neves and McCorry combined for 21 points on 9-of-17 shooting for Garden City, but the rest of the team was just 13-of-42 (31 percent). Carter finished with a team-high 12 points in 25 minutes off the bench.

Kowalska tallied 23 points for Cowley, which has split their last four games. Fincher had 20 and eight boards.

Next up: Garden City at Pratt-Wednesday, Jan. 5-5:30 p.m.