Columbia, Mo. – Tonight the second ranked Columbia College women's basketball team hosted the William Woods University Owls in an AMC contest. Columbia defeated the Owls 56-53. With the win, seniors Morgan Brandt, Alexis Uffmann, Ashlee Marlatt, Hannah Sutton, and Sarah Walters earned their 100th career win as each of them now join the Columbia College Century Club. The Cougars improve to 19-2 on the season and 13-2 in conference play.
There was a lot of energy in the gym tonight as the Cougars were looking to avenge an early season overtime loss to the Owls. Over the first five minutes, the score was kept close as it was just 7-4, Cougars. As the quarter played out, no real separation was made as each team continued to answer each other. Columbia was able to take a five point lead, 15-10, with a minute and a half left in the first. At the end of the first the Cougars led 17-10.
To start the second quarter the Owls went on a 4-0 run to cut the lead 17-14. Columbia could not shake the Owls too far, but were able to take another five point lead off of a good extra pass from Raegan Wieser to Morgan Brandt who hit a three. The Cougars were cleaning up the boards, creating great second looks for themselves on offense. Brandt was able to complete a three-point conversion off of an offensive rebound to put Columbia up 25-18 about midway through. The Cougars hustle was electrifying the gym as they took a 10 point lead, 32-22, with just over a minute left before the half. At the break Columbia led 36-24. Raegan Wieser led all scorers with 10 points, going 2-5 from three.
As the Owls cut the score 39-31 in the first few minutes of the third, Columbia called for a timeout. After the timeout, the Cougars tightened up their defense and were able to get back their double-digit lead as the score was 43-22 with four minutes to play in the third. Despite Columbia's sluggish start to the third quarter, they went on to hold a 50-35 lead heading into the final quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Cougars were able to maintain the lead 54-42 with under five minutes remaining as the Owls called a timeout. William Woods went on a sudden run cutting the deficit to three, 54-51 with 2:28 to go, as the Cougars wanted a timeout. The Owls began picking up full court in hopes of rattling Columbia. With under two minutes the Cougars led by one point and this time the Owls called for a timeout. A big bucket from Brandt put Columbia up 56-53. With 20 seconds left, William Woods took a timeout. The Cougars defense was locked-in and communicating on all levels as the Owls had the ball in the final seconds. Columbia was able to hold off the Owls to secure a win 56-53.
Raegan Wieser dropped 12 points, had six rebounds, and three steals, while Morgan Brandt had eight points, seven rebounds, and four assists. Alexis Uffmann dished out three assists to take over 10th place all-time in career assists with 214. In addition, the Cougars shot 91 percent from the charity stripe.
The women's basketball team returns to Southwell Complex on Saturday, January 26th when they take on the Lindenwood University-Belleville Lynx in an AMC matchup. The game will tip-off at 1:00 p.m.
