Lady Cougars rout Ottawa on the road
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Ottawa, Kan. – The Columbia Lady Cougar basketball squad picked up another win on the road tonight, knocking off Ottawa (Kan.) University 77-60. With the win, the Lady Cougars, who are ranked No. 14 in the NAIA Preseason Top 25 Poll, are 3-1. The loss drops the Lady Braves to 1-6.
The Lady Cougars came from behind in the first half to knot the score at 34 heading into the intermission. After being down by as many as 10 points in the early minutes Columbia would come back to take their first lead of the contest at the eight minute mark. In the final seconds of the half Whitney Davis evened up the score with a lay-up that would help set the tone for the second half.
Both teams came out firing in the second half and played bucket for bucket in the opening minutes. With the teams tied at 43 the Lady Cougars were able to make a run and really put the game away, shooting 52 percent from the field.
Five Lady Cougars scored in double figures in the victory, led by Rachel Oswald with 19 points, including 13 in the second half. Whitney Widaman and Denise Rosario finished with 12 points each while Janita Session and Veronica Smith ended with 10 apiece.
“We started off sluggish but we had a couple players come off the bench that really got us going,” stated head coach Mike Davis. “I really thought we started the second half well and were able to fight off a couple obstacles to close out the contest.”
The Lady Cougars return home on Saturday, Nov. 21 to face Baker (Kan.) University. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m. in the Arena of Southwell Complex.