CU's women's basketball team whipped up a 99-52 win at Midway College on Monday night and the Lady Tigers' 15-1 start to the season is the best in program history. On the same day they also learned that they moved up to ninth in the national rankings after spending a couple of weeks at 10th.

"They knew about the record," said coach Ginger Colvin. "Obviously it was something we all wanted."

Midway (5-13) lost to the Lady Tigers by 65 points (115-50) on Dec. 10, but Monday's game certainly wasn't a duplication of that early in the first half.



The Lady Tigers needed a flurry of points in the final 2:30 of the first 20 minutes to extend to a 46-31 half-time lead. All-American Whitney Ballinger scored five during the stretch and Courtney Danis had four. Danis dished out five first-half assists, most of them to Ballinger, as the Lady Tigers had to distance themselves from a pesky Midway squad.

"Courtney has been finding people when they're open," said Colvin. "Tonight Whitney was the beneficiary of several good passes, but she had one really nice one to Kristi (Ensminger)."

It looked like it might be a replay of the Dec. 10th game (which it eventually turned out to be) as Campbellsville took a 32-18 lead 11 minutes into the game. But Midway used a 13-5 run to close to within 37-31 before CU ended the half on a 9-0 run.

"We were not contesting anything, not pressuring the ball and not filling the passing lanes," Colvin said of her team's first-half effort. "There were way too many uncontested shots in the first half."

Megan Issacs

The Lady Tigers turned up the heat after intermission and scored the first seven points of the second half as Megan Isaacs hit a follow shot and a layup for a 53-31 lead. Isaacs ended with six points and three rebounds. From there on it was just a matter of the margin.

Campbellsville forced 34 Midway turnovers and led the rebounding battle 33-29. The Lady Tigers also hit a good percentage (59 percent) from behind the arc, connecting on 10 of 19, hitting as many 3s as Midway attempted.

Colvin played reserves the last eight minutes of the game. There wasn't a lot of drop-off, as Colvin got good minutes from her entire roster. Of the team's 10 threes, Heaton had four.

Ballinger (26) was joined in double figures by Danis (17) and Heaton (12). Shabree Hunter came off the bench and grabbed four rebounds in seven minutes.

All fourteen players saw at least seven minutes of action as the Lady Tigers warmed up for their Mid-South Conference home opener against Pikeville on Thursday. That game tips off at 6 p.m. at the Powell Athletic Center.

Scoring

Campbellsville (99) - Danis 17, Ballinger 26, Thomas 6, Heaton 12, Isaacs 6, Lee 2, Hopkins 4, Messer 3, Williams 7, Dunn 8 and Ensminger 8.

Midway (52) - Shull 9, Rose 5, Odom 2, Hicks 4, Smiley 11, Hall 2, Piernas 2, Mayes 11, Wilkinson 3 and Combs 3


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