January 28, 2012

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Columbus – Dominique Gilbert recorded her second consecutive double-double and seventh of the season to propel the Columbus State University women's basketball team to a 64-48 victory over UNC Pembroke Saturday afternoon. The Peach Belt Conference tilt was played in the Lumpkin Center in Columbus. 

Gilbert finished the game with a game high 20 points and 12 rebounds. 

After being held to just five points against Lander last Saturday (1/23), Gilbert has erupted to score over 20 points in the last two contests and in three of the last four games. 

"Dominique has really came on of late," stated CSU head coach Jonathan Norton. "We needed her to step up big down the stretch this season and she has." 

"Defensively, I thought we played a great game showing them many different looks limiting their offense to just 32.1 percent shooting." 

Coming out of the gates, the Lady Cougars seemed to have a hangover from Monday night as they continued to struggle shooting the ball hitting just four of their first 14 shot attempts that allowed the visitors to jump out to a 12-8 lead with 7:24 off the clock. 

Courtney Bolton connected on a jumper for the Lady Braves that pushed the score to 14-10 UNCP with 11:41 remaining in the half. From there, CSU (11-7, 6-3) would outscore UNC Pembroke 22-6 the reminder of the half including going on an impressive 12-0 run in a five minute stretch. Back-to-back three's from Marina DeFoor and Shan Basley kick started the spurt for CSU while Dominique Gilbert notched six points. 

The 32-20 Lady Cougar halftime advantage was the largest lead of the half for either team. 

Coming out of the break, Amelia Partin connected on a three-pointer for UNCP (8-10, 5-5) to cut the CSU lead down to nine points (32-23) before the two sides would exchange buckets for the next six minutes of action. 

At the 11:54 mark in the second half, Basley had a fast break layup after stealing the ball from UNCP's Dominique Washington to jump start a quick 14-4 run. Baleigh Coley was the main catalyst for the Lady Cougars knocking down back-to-back trifectas. DeFoor capped the spurt off with a mid-range jumper to give CSU a 60-37 lead with 7:11 left in the contest. 

The 23-point advantage was the largest lead of the game for the Lady Cougars. 

Gilbert was the only Columbus State player in double figures in scoring with Lauren Matheney and Chatil Bradford both chipping in with eight points. Shan Basley dished out seven assists during the game, which is the most by any Lady Cougar this season. 

Carrie Washington had a great day on the glass bringing down 10 rebounds. 

As a team, CSU shot 38.9 percent (28-for-72) from the field but managed to hit just four of their 29 three-point attempts. 

Courtney Bolton was the lone Lady Brave in double digits as the forward netted 10. DeDe Cotton scored seven points while bringing in 10 boards. 

Columbus State will play the second of back-to-back games tomorrow afternoon as they play host to Francis Marion. Tip-off will be at 1:30 p.m. inside the Lumpkin Center.