Lady Cobras Too Much for Valkyries to Handle

by Christian Stryker, SID Coker College

Hartsville, S.C. - The Lady Cobras avenged an early season loss to the Converse College Valkyries on Saturday afternoon, defeating Converse 94-76 in Conference Carolinas women's basketball action. The win improves the Lady Cobras record to 6-12 overall, and 5-8 in the conference, while Converse slips to 4-15 overall, and 4-10 in the conference.

Henna Koponen (Vantaa, Finland) led all scorers with 24 points and eight rebounds for Coker, with fellow Fin, Lotta Aaltonen (Rauma, Finland) netting 18 points with seven rebounds. Alexis blow (Greenville, NC) had a career high 15 points and four rebounds, and Jessica Hayes chipped in 12 points, while pulling down six rebounds. Every Coker player that played in the game, but two registered points, as the Lady Cobras were very successful in spreading the offense around.

For Converse, Kendra Bothof had an outstanding second half and came away with 20 points in the game, while Brandy Williams had 14 points, 12 of which came from beyond the arc, with five rebounds. Sydney Brown and Alaina Smith also scored in double figures for the Valkyries, scoring 12 and 11 points respectively.

Heavy defensive pressure by both squads caused 58 total turnovers, leading to 55 combined points, while both teams had a combined 32 steals.

Coker returns to the floor on Wednesday, as they host the Barton College Bulldogs in the Timberlake-Lawton Gymnasium. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.