Lady Cougars roll to 14th victory
Saturday, January 09, 2010
Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College Lady Cougars picked up the pace in the second half to defeat the Park University Pirates in an American Midwest Conference (AMC) match-up. Columbia defeated the Pirates by a final score of 67-48. The Lady Cougars, ranked No. 9 in the NAIA, improve to 14-1 overall and 2-0 in AMC play. Park drops to 1-12 and 0-1 in league play.
Whitney Widaman’s 12 first half points kept the Lady Cougars in the game, as Columbia shot 39 percent in the first frame and was tied with the Pirates, 27-27, heading into the intermission. Park started the game with a 6-0 run.
Columbia took their first lead of the contest in the 7th minute when Widaman drained a three to give the Lady Cougars an 11-8 advantage. Columbia pushed their lead to eight before the Pirates fought back to tie up the score at the end of the first frame.
Columbia quickly got into rhythm in the opening minutes of the second half, going on a 10-0 run, and putting the Pirates at a deficit that they were never able to recover from. The Lady Cougars went on to push their lead to 23 points before walking away with the 19 point victory.
Columbia and Park combined for 67 turnovers in the contest. The Lady Cougars capitalized on Park’s miscues, turning them into 35 points. Columbia outrebounded the Pirates 41-32 and ended the game shooting almost 44 percent.
Widaman led all scorers with 18 points and five steals. Janita Session added 13 points and Rachel Oswald finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and nine steals.
The Lady Cougars return to the court and AMC play on Thursday, January 14th when they host rival McKendree (Ill.) University. The Bearcats are 12-3 on the season and 2-0 in AMC play with wins over William Woods (Mo.) University and Hannibal-LaGrange (Mo.) College. Tip-off is slated for 5:30 p.m. in the Arena of Southwell Complex.