CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. - The Lady Tigers needed a win to clinch their third straight Mid-South regular season title and they got it Saturday against St. Catharine, 120-64.
"We were aware of it (the title), but we didn't talk much about it much." said coach
Ginger Colvin. "Every game is important to us as far as our ranking and possible seeding in the tournament is concerned. So, we have to improve every game and get better."
The game was won in the first six minutes as CU (23-3, 15-1) blew out to a 22-5 lead and the Lady Tigers led by 33 before settling on a 57-26 half-time advantage.
"We were really focused tonight, especially on defense," said Colvin. "We didn't play very good defense against them in the first game and our first-half defense tonight was really, really good. Plus, we hit shots and when you hit shots everything works."
CU hit 63 percent for the game, 46 percent from 3 and 70 percent from the free throw line. The Lady Tigers also out-rebounded St. Catharine 52-25.
Whitney Ballinger led five Lady Tigers in double figures with 25.
Courtney Danis (18),
Courtney Clifton (22) and
Corin Dunn (10) and
Melly Heaton (10) also reached double figures. Ballinger's 11 rebounds gave her a double-double.
Megan Isaacs pulled down a like number of boards to go along with six points.
Ballinger was honored prior to the game for achieving 1,000 career boards and her teammate,
Melly Heaton, was acknowledged for her 1,000th point.
Campbellsville went on a 9-1 run to start the second half to squelch any Lady Patriot (10-17, 5-10) hopes of a comeback.
The Lady Tigers close out the regular season with games against Lindsey Wilson (6:00) on Thursday, and Senior Day against the University of the Cumberlands (2:00) on Saturday.
St. Catharine (64) - Milam 13, Menke 2, Mullins 2, Brown 10, Calhoun 14, Caras 4, Flora 8, Sexton 2, Haliburton 9. Totals 23-63 13-21 64 17-18 79.
Lady Tigers (120) - Lee 9, Heaton 10, Danis 18, Clifton 22, Ballinger 25, Allen 2, Isaacs 6, Hellyer 4, Williams 8, Compton 6, Dunn 10. Totals 43-68 27-39 120.
Half-time - Campbellsville 57-26.
Three-point goals - St. Catharine 4-14, Campbellsville 7-15 (Lee 1, Danis 2, Clifton 2, Heaton 2).
Rebounds - St. Catharine 25, Campbellsville 52(Ballinger 11, Lee 5, Isaacs 11, Dunn 6).
Assists - St. Catharine 7 Campbellsville 23 (Lee 6, Clifton 3, Isaacs 4).
Steals - St. Catharine 6, Campbellsville 15 (Ballinger 5, Dunn 3).
Blocked shots - Campbellsville 3 (Ballinger 2).
