For a long time, last night’s first-round Region VI Tournament game in Arkansas City looked nothing like a matchup of the No. 3 and No. 14 seeds.
The PCC women hung tough through the entire first half, leading most of the way, but an untimely scoring drought allowed Cowley to take control and cruise to a 64-38 win.
Pratt jumped out to an early lead behind a three-pointer from sophomore Corinna Hoyt and a bucket by classmate Whitney Slater for a 5-2 lead two minutes into the game.
Sophomore point guard Jazmine Bell’s three-pointer with 12:27 left made it 8-3 Beavers.
Cowley got within one before sophomore Phylicia Freeman scored five straight for PCC.
Cowley took an 18-15 lead after a 7-0 run, but baskets by Bell and Slater made it 19-18 Beavers with 3:58 left in the first half.
Pratt’s defense was close to forcing a couple of shot clock violations late in the half, but Cowley guards Ariani Silva and Anna Sonka found their teammates cutting to the basket for six straight points to end the half up 24-19.
The Beavers hung around several minutes into the second half, and Freeman’s putback with 13:51 to go made it 31-26 Lady Tigers.
But a 13-0 Cowley run put the game out of reach by the midway point of the second half.
When Freeman scored to snap the scoring drought, it was 45-28 with 8:43 on the clock.
That was more than enough cushion for the 20-10 Lady Tigers, who advance to the tournament quarterfinals on Thursday in Wichita.
PCC ends the season with a 4-27 record, though the Beavers were actually 7-24 on the court and they were competitive in a number of other games.
The Beavers got 22 points, eight rebounds, two blocks, three steals and two assists from Freeman, one of six sophomores on the squad.
Bell added six points, four assists and three steals while Hoyt finished her PCC career with three points, four assists, three steals and five rebounds.
Slater chipped in with two assists while Ricci Lambert controlled seven rebounds.
The Beavers hit just 16 of 61 field goals (26.2 percent) and they were out-rebounded 49-25 by a much taller Cowley squad.
The Lady Tigers got 25 points, 12 rebounds and two blocks from Gianna Woods while Kaneesha Lee added 14 points, nine rebounds and six blocks.
Cowley 64, Pratt 38
PCC: Phylicia Freeman 10-24 1-2 22, Jazmine Bell 2-8 1-2 6, Whitney Slater 2-10 0-0 4, Corinna Hoyt 1-7 0-0 3, Dashia Williams 1-4 0-0 2, Ricci Lambert 0-5 1-2 1, Laramie Lawrence 0-1 0-0 0, Abbey Rudd 0-2 0-0 0. TOTALS 16-61 3-6 38.
CC: Gianna Woods 11-18 3-4 25, Kaneesha Lee 7-19 0-1 14, Jasamyne Saunders 4-10 1-2 9, Lisa Angell 2-3 0-0 4, Ariani Silva 2-5 0-0 4, Maylisa Johnson 1-1 1-1 3, Anna Sonka 1-7 1-2 3, Brianna Gonzalez 0-0 2-2 2. TOTALS 28-63 8-12 64.
PCC 19 19 — 38
CC 24 40 — 64
3-point goals — PCC 3-17 (Bell 1-4, Freeman 1-2, Hoyt 1-7, Slater 0-4), CC 0-4 (Silva 0-3, Sonka 0-1). Rebounds — PCC 25 (Freeman 8), CC 49 (Woods 12). Assists — PCC 12 (Bell, Hoyt 4 each), CC 24 (Silva 8). Turnovers — PCC 14, CC 17. Total fouls — PCC 12, CC 5. Fouled out — None. Technicals — None.
