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COLUMBUS – A last second shot didn't find the bottom of the net as the Columbus State University women's basketball team fell to Georgia Southwestern 78-75 Wednesday night in Peach Belt Conference action. The game took place inside the Lumpkin Center. 
 
Trailing by as many as nine late in the third, the Lady Cougars made things interesting over the final minutes. After closing the third quarter with five straight points, CSU cut the Georgia Southwestern lead to 56-55 in the opening minutes of the fourth. A three-pointer from Kaihla Carter and a pair of free throws from senior Tatiana Wayne capped off the 10-2 spurt.
 
But the Hurricanes never relinquished the lead and inched back out to a six-point advantage after a three-point play made it 71-65 with 4:24 showing on the clock.
 
Columbus State made one final push for the win scoring six straight points to tie the game at 71 with just 1:44 left. Carter had four of the six during the run while Kristian Carter added a jump hook.
 
Georgia Southwestern went back ahead by four, but the Lady Cougars didn't quit tying the game back up at 75 with just 21 seconds left after Kristian Carter started a fastbreak that finished with Tatum Jarvis laying it in to tie the game. 

But the Lady Canes retook the lead on their next trip down the floor and a missed jumper by the Lady Cougars gave a chance for the Hurricanes to ice the game at the free throw line. However, Georgia Southwestern made just one-of-two giving CSU one last hope at the buzzer.

"We're having bad shooting nights but that has nothing to do with the intensity and grit that we play on defense," said Coach Anita Howard. "During the game we told the ladies the win would come down to who has more grit and tonight it was a deserving win by Georgia Southwestern."

LeeAysia Williams scored a team-high 15 points for Columbus State while Jarvis and Kaihla Carter had 11 and 10, respectively. Taya Gibson added eight points and eight rebounds. The Lady Cougars also set a new season high in assists with 16.
 
As a team CSU shot 37.8 percent (28-for-74) from the floor and 24 percent (6-for-25) from three. The loss was the first blemish on CSU's home record as they were previously 5-0 inside the Lumpkin Center.

Columbus State will kickoff a three-game road trip on Saturday taking on UNC Pembroke at 1:30 p.m.  CSU defeated UNCP 72-64 in Columbus on December 17.