Belleville, Ill. – The Cougar women's basketball team came away with a 77-59 win over American Midwest Conference (AMC) newcomer Lindenwood University-Belleville on Saturday afternoon. With the victory, Columbia improves to 7-4 (3-2 AMC) on the year while the Lynx drop to 4-7 overall (3-2 AMC).

The Cougars fell behind early in the contest as Lindenwood-Belleville jumped out to a 9-0 lead in the first five minutes of play. Columbia then went on a nine point run, tying the game at 9. After trading baskets for the next couple possessions, the Cougars took the lead on an Ashley Fisher three point play. From there, Columbia scored nine unanswered points, giving them a 20-11 advantage, just over the halfway mark of the first half. The lady Lynx cut the deficit to four with just over five minutes to play, but the Cougars would stretch their lead back out to nine, with the help of a three pointer by Tierney Seifert at the 4:14 mark. Lindenwood-Belleville battled their way back over the final few minutes using a 9-2 run to trim the Columbia lead to 29-27 heading into the halftime break. Columbia shot 37 percent from the field and held Lindenwood-Belleville to 30 percent. The Cougars were led by Fisher with seven points in the opening half.

The Cougars extended their lead back out to begin the second half, after Aqua Corpening scored the first six points, but the Lynx would hang around and pull within two at the 14:22 mark. That would be the closest Lindenwood-Belleville would come as Columbia led by as many as 22 on the way to their third-straight victory.

Corpening led four Cougars in double figures with 16 points to go along with 13 points from Fisher, 12 from Amber Percival, and 10 from Kayla Washington. Corpening, Fisher, and Tierney Seifert pulled down a game-high seven rebounds while Seifert also gave out a season-high six assists. For the game, the Cougars shot 52 percent from the field and 6-15 (40 percent) from the three point line. Defensively, the Cougars were able to hold the lady Lynx to just 31 percent shooting and force 19 turnovers.

Columbia will continue AMC play when they return home to host Harris-Stowe State University on Thursday, January 1^st. Tip-off is set for 2:00 pm at the Arena of Southwell Complex.