`Lady Cougars are victorious on the road
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Batesville, Ark. – After being down by as many as 15 points in the first half, the Lady Cougars came from behind to defeat the Pipers from Lyon College today, 61-57. Columbia, ranked No. 14 in the Preseason NAIA Top 25 Poll, improve to 6-1 on the season. The Pipers drop their first game of the season and are 5-1.
The Lady Cougars probably had their toughest start of the season today, connecting on just six field goal attempts to shoot 24 percent from the field in the first frame and trailing 29-18 at the half.
Columbia was able to turn the game around in the second half thanks to Denise Rosario and Kirsti Wilkerson who combined for 24 of Columbia’s 43 second half points.
Columbia trailed the entire contest until they went ahead by one with just over six minutes remaining in the contest. The Lady Cougars jumped ahead by five in the next few minutes before Lyon came charging back to knot the score up at 55 with 2 minutes left in regulation. It was Wilkerson’s three-pointer with 45.8 seconds on the clock that gave the Lady Cougars the lead for good. Although Lyon connected on a field goal attempt on the other end, they were still down by one and forced to foul the Lady Cougars, sending them to the line to seal the victory.
Wilkerson ended with 15 points to lead the Lady Cougars. Veronica Smith had 12 points and 14 rebounds while Whitney Widaman finished with 10 points.
“Our girls really had to fight today,” head coach Mike Davis said. “This is always a tough place to get a victory and we had to fight hard to come out of here with one today.”
Columbia returns to the hardwood on Monday, November 30th when they host Benedictine (Kan.) University. Tip-off is schedule for 7:00 p.m. in the Arena of Southwell Complex.