#11 Lander Outlasts Columbus State 76-69

Columbus, Ga. -- Columbus State fought 11th-ranked Lander toe-to-toe at the Lumpkin Center on Thursday, but the Bearcats prevailed 76-69 in a cross-divisional Peach Belt Conference women's basketball game. Lander wins its 10th consecutive game to move to 17-1 overall and 10-0 in the PBC, while CSU moves to 10-8, 4-4.

"We played hard and fought hard tonight, but they were just much better offensively," said CSU head coach Jonathan Norton. "You have to give Lander credit. We held their leading scorer and best shooter to a combined seven points, but they had other players step up and pick up the slack on offense. That was the difference tonight."

After falling behind early, CSU scored seven unanswered points to jump out to a 9-4 lead in the game's first three minutes. Nikki Urbizo drilled a three-pointer and Monique Jefferson scored on a pair of jumpers to give CSU the five-point lead.

Lander re-took the lead just less than four minutes later on a Brittni Johnson layup after a Jasmine Judge steal to make it 16-15. CSU would fight back to take the lead again with 10:41 left on a pair of Hali Moore free-throws with 10:41 left to make it 20-19. That would be the last time the Lady Cougars would lead in the contest as the Bearcats closed the half by out-scoring CSU 21-10 and took a 40-30 lead into the break.

In the second half, Lander was able to keep the lead near in-or-near double digits for most of the first 10 minutes of play. CSU trailed by 11 with 12:03 left, but used a 7-2 run to cut the margin to 57-51 after Kelsie Weynand drained a three-pointer at the 9:41 mark.

Lander responded with a 11-3 run to take its biggest lead of the night. Nardia Robbins started the run with a trey and Tasheba Butler capped it by hitting a free-throw to make it 68-54 with 6:13 to play. But CSU did not go quietly.

The Lady Cougars scored seven unanswered points to cut the margin back to single digits.  Phebe Smith offensive rebound and put-back with 3:54 left made it 68-61 and got CSU back into the game.  Lander would fight back out to an 11-point advantage with 1:49 left after a Robbins layup, but CSU charged back to make it interesting in the final minute. Turelle Jones hit a three-pointer and then hit two technical foul free-throws to cut the margin to 74-68 with 53 seconds left. Myrick reacted badly to a rebounding foul by CSU and was hit with the technical.

CSU had the opportunity to get even closer, but missed three shots in an 18-second span.  A Weynand turnover at the end of that flurry led to a game-clinching breakaway layup by Johnson for Lander with 11 seconds left. Jones hit a free-throw for CSU with two seconds left for the final point of the night.

Johnson led Lander with 17 points on the night after going 7-13 overall from the floor and 2-4 from long range. Ciara Lyons added 13 points and Tasheba Butler scored 12 points to go with her game-high 16 rebounds. The Bearcats shot 42 percent for the contest.

Smith led CSU with 19 points and 13 rebounds, going 8-10 from the floor. Six of her boards were on the offensive end. Jefferson added 12 points on 6-12 shooting, while Renee Jackson added 10 points. Jones scored nine points and grabbed eight rebounds. CSU held a 46-38 rebounding advantage and shot 48 percent in the second half to finish at 43 percent overall.

The Lady Cougars will host Augusta State in the second of three straight PBC contests on Saturday at 1:30, while Lander travels to Georgia Southwestern Saturday, also at 1:30.