Kinesiology sophomore Jen Dye shoots from the side against Southwest Texas April 6 in McDermott at Incarnate Word.
The Cowgirls advance to the championship game to face winner of Victoria vs. UIW.
By Michael Peters
sac-ranger@alamo.edu
The Southwest Texas Junior College Cowgirls held off a comeback attempt by the St. Philip’s Lady Tigers to advance to the championship game by a score of 72-65.
The 9 a.m. tipoff must have been too early for the Lady Tigers, who seemed to be sleepwalking at the start of the game.
Just 6:28 into the game, the Lady Tigers were down 20-2 before they could even blink.
With 7:36 left in the first half, the Lady Tigers found themselves down 30-12.
The Cowgirls got sloppy during the last several minutes of the first half and the Lady Tigers were able to cut the Cowgirls’ lead to 9.
The Cowgirls led 38-27 at halftime.
Led by accounting sophomore Julissa Garrett, the Lady Tigers scored 13 unanswered points to take a 44-42 lead.
The Lady Tigers failed to extend their lead by not capitalizing on the Cowgirls’ sloppy play during the middle of the second half.
The Cowgirls’ went on a 20-8 run to take a 62-52 lead with 4:17 left in the game.
The Lady Tigers pulled within 3 points with 49.8 seconds left on the clock but were unable to take the lead.
“That was a nail-biter; we just came up short,” Lady Tigers coach Philip Botello said.
Cowgirls’ Coach Jesus M. Garcia said he felt the game was closer than it should have been.
“Foul trouble got us; four of our players fouled out, and we had only five players at the end,” Garcia said. “That made it more interesting than it needed to be.”
Garrett led all scorers with 42 points, earning most valuable player honors.
