COLUMBIA, Mo. - Columbia College blistered the nets for 60 percent shooting in the first half and didn't cool much in handing the Lady Tigers a 86-70 New Year's Eve loss in the Cougars vs. Cancer Classic.
Columbia's Heather English scored 29 points and pulled down eight rebounds to lead the Lady Cougars.
"We just didn't play very good defense," analyzed Coach
Ginger Colvin. "In the first half we were mostly giving up uncontested lay-ups."
Campbellsville had three players in double figures, led by
Courtney Clifton's 23.
Keisha Compton and
Daizah Kimberland chipped in with 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Campbellsville fell behind by as many as eight points in the first half after an English basket. Two free throws by Compton and two 3s by Clifton cut it to 35-33, but went on a 6-2 run to lead 41-35 at the half.
Columbia led by 11 five minutes into the second half. It was a seven-point Columbia lead when
Mackenzie Lee hit a bucket at the eight-minute mark and CU closed to with four (65-61 with Clifton's fifth 3. Columbia expanded that to a 77-65 margin with 3:48 remaining.
"They have a really nice group of players, said" Colvin. "But they should have been the team that was tired."
Campbellsville had one last run and closed to within 77-70 when Compton hit two free tosses, but those were the last points the Lady Tigers would post as Columbia closed the game out on a 9-0 run.
Columbia hit 59 percent of it shots for the game and 50 percent from 3-point range (7-14) in issuing CU's fifth road loss. Campbellsville is 10-6 and Columbia 10-5.
Campbellsville hit 40 percent of its shots and only turned the ball over 10 times, but four of those occurred in the last four minutes with the game in the balance.
Clifton was named to the All-Classic team. She was joined by Columbia's Heather English (MVP) and Julie Teeple, Peru State's Jasmine Tate and William Woods' Sharron Andrews and Megan Aubuchon.
The Lady Tigers get back into Mid-South Conference play when they travel on Thursday to Pikeville. Tipoff at 6:00. The game will be broadcast over university radio (88.7). A link for listening on the computer can be found at www.campbellsvilletigers.com.
Lady Tigers (70) - Lee 5, Compton 14, Kimberland 14, Jehlik 9, Isaacs 3, Clifton 23, Craig 4. Totals 27-
68 7-9 70.
Columbia (59) - English 29, Eldridge 13, Wilkerson 16, Seifert 4, Teeple 16. Totals
30-51 19-22 86.
Half-time - Columbia 41-35.
Three-point goals - Columbia 7-14 (English 3, Wilkerson 3), Campbellsville 9-28 (Clifton 5, Kimberland 2).
Rebounds - Columbia 34 (English 8, Teeple 7, Eldridge 6), Campbellsville 31 (Clifton 3, Compton 4, Kimberland 5, Jehlik 7, Isaacs 3).
Assists - Columbia 16 (Eldridge 4, Siefert 5), Campbellsville 15 (Compton 4, Kimberland 3, Lee 2).
Steals - Columbia 6 (English 4), Campbellsville 4 (Isaacs 2).
