Lady Saints Light Up Cowley

Saturday’s matchup on paper looked to be another grueling battle between two of the top defensive teams in the Jayhawk Conference, reminiscent of last years 67-57 grinder in the Region VI Championship game between Seward and Cowley. That ‘paper’ turned out to be just a little bit wrong as Seward County flirted with the century mark blowing the Tigers out of the Greenhouse with a 99-83 victory to finish off the season sweep of Cowley while adding another impressive win to the Lady Saints 2016-2017 resume.

The early moments of the game were a sign of things to come as the Lady Saints and Lady Tigers traded baskets through the first five minutes with Seward holding a 10-7 advantage. Back to back threes from Erin Richardson and Mollie Mounsey gave the Lady Saints a nine point lead and a late triple from Valerie Caro capped a big first quarter for Seward to put them in front of Cowley 26-16 after one.

With a big home crowd behind them, the Lady Saints quickly added onto their lead as the second quarter began, getting a bucket on the inside from Brennyn Seagler and another from Mounsey to stretch their lead to 46-27. Five straight Cowley points trimmed the Lady Saints lead to 14, but Seward finished the half strong, getting another triple from Caro at the first half horn to send Seward to the locker rooms up big 53-35.

Seward splashed home eight first half threes and held Cowley to just 33% shooting in the half to build their big lead. Richardson, Mounsey, and Caro combined for 36 first half points for Seward and accounted for all eight of their makes from behind the arc.

The halftime break didn’t cool the Lady Saints down as they came out in the third quarter and scored the first five points, pushing their lead past 20 at 58-35. They didn’t stop there, ballooning their advantage to 25 at 64-39 with 6:20 still to go in the period as Mounsey connected on yet another three. Seward put the game away over the next three minutes, taking their largest lead of the night at 76-44 before going to the fourth still comfortably in front 81-57.

As was the case the first time the two hooked up in Arkansas City, Cowley got frantic in the fourth quarter and Seward had trouble handling the pressure as the Tigers cut the Lady Saints lead to 15 midway through the fourth at 87-72. The Lady Saints calmed down however, withstanding the Tiger storm, playing even with Cowley over the next three minutes to all but seal things up as they led 93-77 with 1:22 to go. With the home folks on their feet, the Lady Saints dribbled out the final seconds of an impressive 99-83 victory to earn win number 22 in 23 tries on the 2016-2017 campaign.

Seward shot 59% in the second half to finish the night at 48% overall. The 99 points they put up against the Lady Tigers were 18 more than any other team had scored against Cowley all season. A number of Seward players put up impressive stat lines in the win as six different players reached double figures in scoring, led by Mounsey’s 25 and Richardson’s 17. Manuela Fungate finished with a career high 12 points and her second career double-double as she added 11 rebounds while Neidy Ocuane dished out a career high 11 assists for Seward.

The Lady Saints improve to 22-1 on the year and 18-1 in Jayhawk Conference play where they keep pace with Hutchinson at the top of the standings. Cowley drops to 17-6 overall and 13-6 in league play, all but ending their chances for a run at the Jayhawk Conference crown.

Seward will face another test in their next outing as they make the long trip to Coffeyville to take on the red hot Lady Ravens on Wednesday night. The Lady Saints will take on a Coffeyville squad that has won 11 of their past 12 since losing to Seward in the Greenhouse back in December. The two will tip things off at 5:30 in Nellis Hall.

#7 SEWARD COUNTY/COWLEY BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wbkb/2016-17/boxscores/20170204_75tu.xml>

Roy Allen