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Josh FullerBRISTOL, Tenn. – The sixth-ranked Columbus State University women's basketball team used a 19-2 run in the second quarter to build a 16-point lead over King University and never looked back as the Lady Cougars defeated the Tornado 65-53 Friday. The non-conference game took place at the Student Center Complex in Bristol, Tenn.
Columbus State entered the second quarter up 10-8, but a steal by Amy Van Deventer led to a Arnelle Collins three-pointer that put KU up 11-10 just 20 seconds into the quarter. However from there, the Lady Cougars started the massive 19-2 run that lasted nearly eight and a half minutes, which gave CSU a 29-13 lead.
"We didn't shoot the ball well tonight at all, but we rebounded well and created some turnovers to give us some extra opportunities to score," said Lady Cougar head coach
Jonathan Norton.
"It feels good to get the first road win of the season under the belt."
Columbus State (3-0) pounded the ball inside to begin the run as
Ashley Asouzu made back-to-back jumpers near the paint while
Ashley Johnson followed with a layup to give CSU a 16-11 lead.
Following another Asouzu bucket, All-American
Michelle Mitchell got into the action scoring CSU's 10
th unanswered point.
The Lady Cougars finally stretched the lead to double-digits on a
Brea Walker three ball with 2:31 left until the half making the score 25-13.
After Johnson made the final basket of the 19-2 spurt, King (1-3) got a layup from Deventer to make it a 29-15 game at the break.
In a 31-19 game,
Eryn Cochran nailed a three-pointer to stretch the Lady Cougar lead out to 15 points with 7:16 showing on the clock in the third quarter. A few seconds later, Cochran ended the Tornado possession with a steal and Mitchell hit a jumper to give Columbus State its largest lead of the game at 17 points (36-19).
However, King responded going on a 10-2 run to get back within single-digits (38-29) with almost four minutes left in the third. Ashely Albertson and Sheena Johnson each had four points during the spurt.
Columbus State was able to stretch the lead to 49-36 at the end of the third quarter thanks in part to an
Erin Morrow three.
In the fourth quarter, the two sides just exchanged buckets with CSU's lead never getting higher than 14 or lower than 10.
Mitchell led the way scoring a game-high 26 points while grabbing nine rebounds. It was the first 20-point game for the preseason All-American. She also had three assists with two blocks and steals.
Cochran was the only other Lady Cougar in double-digits as the sophomore scored 12 points after going 4-for-10 from three-point range. Asouzu had a game-high 13 rebounds with eight points.
As a team, CSU shot 38.2 percent (26-for-76) including a 31.6 percent (6-for-19) mark from three.
King was led by Albertson, who scored 10 points while grabbing nine rebounds. Van Deventer had eight.
The Tornado shot 35.8 percent (19-for-53) from the field while going just 3-for-15 from beyond the arc.
Columbus State will continue its Tennessee road trip taking on Carson-Newman Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is at 3 p.m. in Jefferson City, Tenn.
