Walnut Ridge, Ark. – This afternoon the twelfth ranked Columbia College women's basketball team traveled to Walnut Ridge, Arkansas, to take on Williams Baptist College in an AMC matchup. The Cougars defeated the Eagles by a final score of 54-49 after holding off a strong second half run by Williams Baptist to improve to 13-3 on the season.

The Cougars came out in the opening quarter and played well. They were able to play lock down defense and forced five turnovers in the first eight minutes of the game while jumping out to an early 14-2 lead. They continued to apply the pressure to the Eagles as the half progressed and forced them to take bad shots as they held them to just 18 percent shooting in the first half. They were able to close out the second quarter on a 12-6 run and took a 41-16 lead into the halftime break. The Cougars were led by Raegan Wieser who finished the first half with a team high 13 points.

Williams Baptist came out in the third quarter and looked like a completely different team. They scored the first 19 points of the second half and held the Cougars scoreless for the first nine minutes of the third quarter. They were able to cut Columbia's lead all the way down to six before the Cougars were able to regain their footing and end the quarter on a 4-1 run.

Columbia College held an eight point lead over the Eagles heading into the final quarter of play and really stepped up their defensive efforts. Williams Baptist did their best to try and complete their comeback but it seemed as if the Cougars would make a big play on the defensive end every time the Eagles were ready to make a run. Despite outscoring Columbia 13-9 in the fourth, the Eagles were never quite able to catch up to the Cougars and Columbia held them off for their seventh conference win of the season.

Columbia College was led by Raegan Wieser who finished with a team high 14 points and 10 rebounds for her fourth double-double of the season. In addition to Wieser, Ashlee Marlatt, the reigning AMC Player of the Week, finished with 11 points to round out the top performers for the Cougars.

Columbia College is back in action on Thursday, January 12^th when they play host to Park (Mo.) University in an AMC matchup. The game is set to tip-off at 5:30 p.m. in the Southwell Athletic Complex.