Mbengue has a night to remember in the Lady Tigers’ 75-59 win

Cowley College sophomore Ndack Mbengue continued her recent terror on the basketball court by scoring 22 points and grabbing 18 rebounds in the Lady Tigers' 75-59 win over Independence Wednesday inside W.S. Scott Auditorium. Her night got even better when Mbengue was later crowned Homecoming Queen during halftime of the men's victory over the Pirates.

Mbengue is averaging 15.8 points and 16.1 rebounds over the past six games and has helped Cowley (14-13 overall, 8-13 Jayhawk Conference) move within one game of eighth place in the conference and a potential home playoff game.

"We are doing a good job of looking for her more, and she is staying out of foul trouble," Cowley head coach Todd Clark said.

On Wednesday, Cowley trailed 17-15 after one-quarter of play and 27-25 at the end of the first half. However, Cowley went 12-of-14 from the free-throw line and out-scored Independence 31-16 in the third quarter to take a 56-43 lead.

The Lady Tigers scored the fourth quarter's first seven points and cruised to their second straight win.

"We started being more aggressive offensively after halftime," Clark said. "Once we got some confidence, we did a good job of keeping it going."

After making only 3-of-10 three-point attempts in the first half, Cowley went 7-of-16 from long range after halftime.

Along with Mbengue, all five starters scored in double figures. Jaiden Smith and Destiny Yates combined to go 7-of-13 from beyond the arc and finished with 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Jasirae Vick went 6-of-12 from three-point range and finished with a game-high 27 points for the Pirates, who are now 14-12 overall and 8-12 in the conference.

Cowley forced Independence into 25 turnovers and out-scored the Lady Pirates 29-18 on points off turnovers.

"Our defense helped create some easy baskets," Clark said.

The Lady Tigers will attempt to make it three wins in a row when they play at Pratt on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Beavers (13-13) have won four games in a row and are just behind Cowley in the conference with a record of 7-13.

Pratt sophomore Princess Anderson leads the NJCAA Division I in scoring at 27 points per game.

"Princess is really good, and Pratt is a tough place to play," Clark said. "It will be a tough matchup, so we will need to be ready to play."

Box score:

Indy (59): Morane Dossou 4-8 1-2 9, Serenity Echols 1-6 0-0 3, Jasirae Vick 9-24 3-3 27, Sabrina Larsson 3-6 0-0 8, Mervaille Nkoyock 1-9 0-0 2, Monifa Beyde 0-1 0-0 0, Sunishka Kartik 3-7 1-4 8, Lisa Lorenz 1-2 0-0 2. Totals:

Cowley (75): Destiny Yates 3-6 4-4 13, Ndack Mbengue 9-17 4-6 22, Anna Przyszlak 3-11 3-4 11, Hattie Pyle 2-11 6-8 10, Jaiden Smith 4-12 2-2 14, Zuzanna Komor 2-5 0-0 5, Josephine Vourliotis 0-0 0-0 0, Georgia Knight 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 23-63 19-24 75.

Three-pointers: Indy 10-26 (Vick 6-12, Larsson 2-2, Echols 1-3, Kartik 1-3, Nkoyock 0-5, Lorenz 0-1), Cowley 10-24 (Smith 4-10, Yates 3-6, Przyszlak 2-4, Komor 1-1, Pyle 0-2, Knight 0-1). Rebounds: Indy 35 (Dossou 7), Cowley 37 (Mbengue 14). Assists: Indy 13 (Larsson 4), Cowley 18 (Pyle 6). Turnovers: Indy 25, Cowley 15. Total fouls: Indy 18, Cowley 10. Fouled out: none. Technicals: none.