November 11, 2011

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Fort Lauderdale, FL – Shan Basley scored 27 points as the Columbus State University women's basketball team defeated Barry 86-76 in each team's opening game of the season. The game was a part of the Sixth Annual Nova Southeastern Tip-Off Classic at the Don Taft University Center in Fort Lauderdale.

The Lady Cougars took an early 8-5 lead thanks to baskets by four different CSU players including a three-point bucket by Lauren Grisham. The Buccaneers however went on a 12-7 run over the next three and a half minutes to take an 18-12 lead. Basley buried two straight three-point baskets to tie the game at 18 all with a little over 13 minutes left in the opening half.

The two sides would then exchange points over the next seven minutes as neither team would have a lead larger than three points. Sophomore Asha Alexander would put CSU up by four with a jumper with 5:30 left in the half.

Barry would grab their last lead of the game on a three-pointer by Shanna Suttington as the Buccaneers took a slim 39-37 advantage. A Letiecia Davenport layup would tie the game for the eighth time before the Lady Cougars would go on a 12-4 run in the final three and a half minutes of the half which was capped off by a final second jumper by Basley to give CSU the 51-43 halftime advantage.

BU came out the locker room firing as they cut the Lady Cougars lead down to three points with 15:14 left in the game. The two sides would exchange blows yet again until Yvonne Houston drilled a three with 9:21 remaining to tie the game for the 10^th time. The game would go back and forth as the game was tied at 69 with a little less than eight minutes remaining in the game.

Clutch free throw shooting was the key for the Lady Cougars as Lauren Matheney and Alexander would both make a pair to give CSU a 73-69. Houston would make another huge shot from downtown before Matheney would go two-for-two again from the charity stripe to stretch the Lady Cougar lead to three.

Basley would make her third and final three-pointer of the game and Matheney would punch in a layup to give the Lady Cougars a eight point lead with 2:36 to go in the game. Basley would cap off the quick 7-0 run with a fast break layup to give CSU a 10 points lead which was their largest margin of the game.

The Buccaneers had one last effort as they scored four straight points to cut the lead down to 82-76  with a minute remaining before the Matheney would scored three straight points to ice the game for the Lady Cougars.

Basley led all scorers with 27 points going 12-for-18 from the field. Matheney and Davenport also had double-digits scoring performances scoring 12 and 11 points, respectively. Alexander had team-high 10 rebounds for the Lady Cougars.

Alexandria Zamora recorded a double-double for Barry scoring 20 points and bringing down a game-high 13 rebounds. Houston tallied 16 points going 4-for-7 from beyond the arch.

The Lady Cougars shot 52.3% (34-for-65) from the floor including shooting a blistering 62.9% (22-for-35) from the field in the first half.

Columbus State will have a quick turnaround as they will play the tournament host, Nova Southeastern, tomorrow evening. Tip-off is schedule for 8:00 p.m.