Liberal, Kansas – After beginning Jayhawk conference action this past Saturday, the Seward County Lady Saints women’s basketball team returned home to Liberal, Kansas where they competed inside the Green House in their home opener against the Cowley Tigers where Seward County was able to hand Cowley their first loss of the season with a 71-65 win for the Lady Saints.
In their first home game of the season, Seward County came out exchanging baskets back-and-forth against Cowley with Jamia Carter showing why she is a top fifteen scorer in the NJCAA by knocking down a three from the corner to help lead the Lady Saints to a 14-10 lead before finishing the first ten minutes of action up 16-14 over the Tigers heading into the second quarter.
The gates finally opened for Seward County in the second as they managed to create a run for themselves thanks to some great defensive work by Kayla Peoples who dove to the ground for a steal and found Carter wide open for a fast break layup that put the Lady Saints ahead by double figures 25-14. Cowley did not back down to the run Seward County was on, finding some stride of their own with a 16-4 run to end the quarter and head into halftime up one 30-29 over the Lady Saints.
In a tough matchup through the first twenty minutes, both teams looked to try and take hold of a lead over the other with neither side able to pull away. Xoe Rosalez was able to find a wide open Alianna Colon for a three to lock up the score and a few moments later Carter put her defender on skates to take the lead 38-37 over the Tigers. After knocking down her first three of the game, Colon began to show her range as she knocked down back-to-back triples to help Seward County end the third quarter of action up by two 51-49 going into the fourth.
After finding some rhythm to gain momentum, the Lady Saints kept the good times rolling as Xoe Rosalez hit her defender with a crossover and nailed a floater from the free throw line to keep the lead alive at 53-51 before Cowley was able to lock the score up at 59-59 with five minutes to go. In what became a parade to the free throw line for Seward County, Rosalez showed her clutch gene as she knocked down two free throws at the stripe to grow the Lady Saints’ lead out to 66-61 and when Carter found Allie Myers for an alley-oop layup off an inbound pass, that was all she wrote for the Tigers as Seward County claimed their first conference win of the season with a 71-65 victory over Cowley.
Carter showed why she is the thirteenth ranked scorer in the NJCAA with a team high 22 points against the Tigers while Colon added a season high of 17 points while shooting 5/8 from beyond the arc and Myers once again led the way on the boards with 15 rebounds for the NJCAA number one ranked rebounder.
The Lady Saints now improve to 4-1 on the 2023-2024 season with a conference record of 1-1 in KJCCC action. They will now turn their attention towards #6 Butler this Saturday after Thanksgiving break when they head to El Dorado for a 2:00 PM tip-off.
