Box Score Columbia, Mo. - The Lady Cougar basketball team continued their recent hot streak with an impressive 81-47 home victory over conference opponent Hannibal-LaGrange University on Saturday afternoon at the Arena of Southwell Complex. Columbia, the 12^th-ranked team in Tuesday's latest release of the NAIA Women's Basketball Top 25 Poll, improves to 20-5 overall and 16-1 in the American Midwest Conference (AMC) with the win. Saturday's victory also gave Mike Davis his tenth 20-win season in 13 seasons as head coach of the Lady Cougars.

Columbia got off to a quick start behind 11 early points from Janairrika Bland and led 16-6 less than five minutes into the first half. The Lady Cougars continued to dominate on both ends of the floor throughout the remainder of the first period on their way to a 43-17 halftime advantage, shooting 55 percent from the field and holding the Trojans to 8 of 24 from the floor. Bland and Tierney Seifert led the way for Columbia in the opening frame with 16 and 11 points, respectively.

The Lady Cougars would stretch their lead out to 40 early in the second half and faced little resistance from Hannibal as they cruised to the regular season series sweep of the Trojans. Bland led three Columbia players in double figures with a game-high 20 points. Seifert added 14 points on 4 of 6 shooting from three-point range and Ashley Fisher chipped in 12. Heather English had five steals for the second straight game and dished out six of the Lady Cougars' 21 assists on the day.

Columbia will hit the road on Tuesday, February 18^th for a conference matchup with Mid-Continent University. The Lady Cougars defeated MCU 87-53 at home in their first meeting back on January 14^th. Tuesday's contest is set for a 5:30 pm start in Mayfield, Ky.