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By: Richard Navratil

COLUMBUS – A career night from senior Ashley Johnson propelled the 14^th-ranked Columbus State University women's basketball team to a 63-48 victory over Georgia Southwestern on Thursday night. The Peach Belt Conference contest was played inside the Lumpkin Center.

Coming off a career-high 17 points at Francis Marion last Saturday, Johnson went for 31 points on Thursday night to lead the Lady Cougars. The Atlanta native was 11-of-17 from the field and 9-for-14 from the free throw line. Additionally, Johnson set a new career mark with 18 rebounds, surpassing her previous high of 10. No other Lady Cougar finished with more than seven points on the night.

"Ashley had a tremendous night," head coach Jonathan Norton said. "She worked so hard in the offseason to put herself in this position and she is playing great right now.

"Overall, I thought we had another strong defensive effort. I was also really pleased with our play off the bench. I thought those players gave us good minutes all night long."

Michelle Mitchell put Columbus State (11-1, 5-0 PBC) on the board on the opening possession of the game, and the Lady Cougars would remain in front for the duration of the game.

Georgia Southwestern (6-6, 0-5) didn't get on the board until the 6:08 mark, but the basket brought the Lady Canes within two as CSU struggled in the early minutes as well.

From there, the Lady Cougars would go on a 12-0 run started by a Britteny Tatum three-pointer. Johnson capped the run with seven straight points, the last of which came on a three-point play.

The lead stayed in double figures the rest of the quarter with CSU taking a 20-8 edge after 10 minutes of play.

GSW cut the lead down to single digits (24-15) with four minutes remaining in the second quarter, but it was Johnson that had the answer for Columbus State. The senior scored the first 10 Lady Cougar points of the quarter, including six straight to help stretch the lead back out to 13 near halftime. Freshman Tatiana Wayne capped off the first half with her first basket of the night to give CSU a 34-19 edge at the break.
 
Columbus State struggled mightily from the field coming out in the third quarter, knocking down just 1-of-15 shots over the 10 minutes. The Lady Cougars were able to remain in front behind strong defense and free throw shooting, knocking down eight from the charity stripe in the quarter.
 
The closest Georgia Southwestern would get in the game came with just under eight minutes to play as a transition basket brought the Lady Canes within six at 44-38. CSU once again had the answer though going on a 15-5 run, getting seven more points to wrap up Johnson's stellar night.

Columbus State shot a season-worst 29.7 percent (19-of-64) from the field, but hit a season high 24 free throws the make up the difference. CSU crushed the Lady Canes on the glass 55-38, including 24 offensive rebounds leading to 20 second chance points.

The Lady Cougar defense held GSW to 34.4 percent (21-of-61) shooting, the seventh time this season CSU has limited the opponent to below 35 percent overall.
 
Columbus State will host conference rival Georgia College, which is also perfect in conference play. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in the Lumpkin Center.