November 27, 2011

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Columbus – The Columbus State University women's basketball team outscored Albany State 30-2 in the final 13 minutes of the first half to cruise to their second victory in as many days as they defeated the Lady Rams 68-49 Sunday evening in the Lumpkin Center. The game was apart of the first annual PBC/SIAC Challenge hosted by CSU. 

With the victory, the Lady Cougars are now 4-1 while ASU is still winless at 0-3.

"We had a great balanced offensive attack tonight, especially in the first half", said head coach Jonathan Norton. "The second team played fabulous for the second straight night."

"This game showed that we still have plenty to improve on. In order to compete inside the conference, we have to play much better with a lead than we did tonight. Committing 11 turnovers in the second half when you have the lead is horrendous."

Both teams came out shooting the ball well. April Thomas scored the first points of the game with a three-point basket. The two sides would then exchange buckets until Thomas hit her second trifecta in the first five minutes to give the visitors a 12-8, their largest advantage of the game. 

Four straight points by Asha Alexander tied the game before a Breanna Fields lay-up gave the Lady Rams their final lead of the contest.

From there, Columbus State would go on a 14-0 run fueled by Lauren Grisham who scored seven points. Grisham started the spurt with a successful three-point attempt that gave the Lady Cougars a 15-14 lead at the 11:45 mark, which was their first lead of the game.

Kourtney Alexander laid in a bucket to make it a 26-16 CSU lead before the Lady Cougars would go on another impressive run, this time a 16-0 spurt that gave the home team a 42-16 halftime advantage.

Letiecia Davenport was the main point scorer in the run as she scored six points while Dominique Gilbert added four for CSU.

Coming out of the break, the two teams would exchange three-point buckets before Albany State would go on a 11-0 run to cut the CSU lead down to 45-29 with 13:27 left in the game. Four different Lady Rams scored during the run with Fields leading the way with four points. The 16-point defect would be the closest ASU would get to the Lady Cougars for the remainder of the game. 

Dominique Gilbert and Asha Alexander both recorded double-doubles. Gilbert scored a game high 14 points and brought down 10 rebounds while Alexander tallied 10 points and rebounds. It is the first double-double in Alexander's career. 

Lauren Grisham scored a season high 10 points while Carrie Washington notched a game best 11 rebounds. Letiecia Davenport also scored in double figures netting 10 points. 

Breanna Fields was the leading scorer for the Lady Rams banking in 13 points. 

Columbus State will hit the hardwood again next Friday, December 2 as they take on West Florida at 5:30 pm in the Lumpkin Center.