November 26, 2011

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Columbus – The Columbus State University women's basketball team used a 21-0 run midway through the first half to cruise to an 84-51 victory over Fort Valley State in the Lumpkin Center on Saturday evening. The game was apart of the first annual PBC/SIAC Challenge hosted by CSU. 

With the victory, the Lady Cougars improve to 3-1 while FVSU falls to 0-2. 

"I was really proud of how the team played tonight", said head coach Jonathan Norton.
"It was a real team effort with everyone contributing to the cause. We had great bench play especially Kiersten Reid who knocked down four three's for us. " 

"I felt like our defense played a tremendous game, however, tomorrow is a different day and we need to get ready for a good Albany State team. " 

CSU came out on fire making three of their first four shots to jump out to a 6-0 lead. Asha Alexander scored the final four points after Dominique Gilbert made the first basket of the game. 

Fort Valley would then go on a 10-2 run to take a 10-8 lead. The slim two point advantage was the Lady Wildcats largest lead of the game. Brandi Haynes capped off the spurt for FVS as she knocked down back-to-back three-point attempts. 

The Lady Cougars would then rattle off 10 unanswered points to take an 18-10 lead with 11:14 reaming in the first half. After two consecutive Fort Valley buckets, CSU would then go on an impressive 21-0 run over the next six minutes and 19 seconds to take a commanding 39-15 lead.

Gilbert and Letiecia Davenport both spurred the run scoring six points apiece while Shan Basley and Kiersten Ried both chipped in with successful three-point baskets. 

The two sides would exchange baskets over the final two minutes with Caremonique Dawson of FVSU ending the scoring with a final second trifecta to make the score 46-23 CSU.

Coming out of the break, Fort Valley scored the first four points before Basley connected on a three-point basket.  Marina DeFoor drained her only three of the night to push the Lady Cougars lead to 23. From there, the Lady Wildcats went on a quick 6-0 run to make the score 52-35. That would be the closest Fort Valley would come as Columbus State stretched their lead to 29 on the back of another impressive run, this time a 14-2 spurt to make the score 66-37. Lauren Grisham had two three-point buckets during the run while Ried also connected from downtown. 

Over the final nine minutes, the two teams would alternate scoring. The Lady Cougars would push their lead to 72-39 after Gilbert knocked down a pair of free throws. The 33 point advantage was CSU's largest lead of the night. 

In the final three minutes, Reid and Baleigh Coley both made three-point baskets and Chatil Bradford scored a pair of free throws as the Lady Cougars went on to win 84-51. 

Dominique Gilbert scored a game high 16 points while Kiersten Ried and Letiecia Davenport scored 12 and 10 points, respectively. Asha Alexander led both teams with 10 rebounds. Alexander also had five assists on the night while Gilbert recorded her second straight four block performance.

As a team, Columbus State shot 46 percent (29-for-63) from the field and a sizzling 52.2 percent (12-for-23) from downtown.

Thirteen different Fort Valley State players scored during the game with Jasmine Birdsong and Keyerra Rozier leading the way with six points. 

Fort Valley struggled shooting the ball as the just shot 23.4 percent (18-for-77) on the night.

Columbus State will be right back in action tomorrow evening as they will conclude the PBC/SIAC Challenge with a game against Albany State. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. in the Lumpkin Center. As always, the game can be heard live on NewsRadio 540 with Scott Miller bringing you all the action.