Box Score Like Columbus State Athletics on Facebook!
COLUMBUS – The Columbus State University women's basketball team took down the third-ranked team in the nation Carson-Newman with an 88-83 victory in their first home game of the season.
Senior Tatiana Wayne followed up her 37-point outing last year against the Eagles with a 33-point afternoon to lead all scorers. Wayne started to heat up in the fourth quarter sparking an 8-0 run, which included one of her five made 3-pointers in the game. It was a balanced scoring effort from top to bottom for Columbus State tonight as 11 different players got on the scoreboard.
"I'm really pleased with the effort of all of our players and coaches from top to bottom," head coach Anita Howard said. "This was a big team win. Defense is what we hang our hat on. It felt really good to force 28 turnovers against a well disciplined team in Carson-Newman."
Columbus State (3-0) relied heavily upon its tenacious defense forcing 28 Eagle turnovers, the most turnovers by Carson-Newman in their last 68 games. The Lady Cougars meanwhile took care of the ball extremely well only turning it over 10 times, their lowest such total this season.
Despite shooting just 36 percent in the first half, the Lady Cougars kept themselves in range only trailing by four at the break. Carson-Newman opened up a 6-point advantage in the third quarter before the Lady Cougars rallied with a 10-0 spurt to reclaim the lead.
Down the stretch it was back-and-forth as the two teams continually traded the lead. But it was the Lady Cougar defense that stepped up when needed most. Carson-Newman had a chance to tie it with seven seconds remaining, but Columbus State forced their final turnover of the afternoon where junior Eboni Williams sealed the game at the free throw line.
The Lady Cougars shot 38.1 percent (32-for-84) from the field and went 7-of-30 from the 3-point line.
Columbus State will head to Greenwood, S.C. Saturday, December 1 for their first conference game of the season against the Lander Bearcats. Tip off is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
