Hannibal, Mo. – The Columbia College women's basketball team opened American Midwest Conference (AMC) play with an 86-37 win at Hannibal LaGrange University on Thursday. The 86 points scored was a season-high for the Cougars.
Columbia used a 31-0 run late in the first quarter and into the second to bust open the game.
The Cougars improved to 4-0 (1-0 AMC) with the win, while Hannibal-LaGrange fell to 3-4 (0-1 AMC). Columbia is off to a 4-0 start for the third-consecutive season.
Lauren Friedrich led Columbia with a season-high 15 points, while
Mallory Shetley (10),
Abby Backes (8),
Lexi Miller (8),
Ashtyn Klusmeyer (7),
Emma Daniels (7) and
Mya Miller (7) all scored seven or more points.
The Cougars hit a season-high 11 threes in the victory and outrebounded Hannibal 45-18. Columbia also had a 50-9 advantage in bench points.
Columbia hit just 2-of-9 from the field to start the contest and trailed 7-5 in the opening four minutes. The Cougars were down 10-8 before scoring the final 12 points of the quarter to take a 20-10 advantage.
Mya Miller led Columbia with seven points.
The Cougars opened the second quarter on a 19-0 run to push the advantage to 39-10 with 2:28 left before half. Columbia limited Hannibal-LaGrange without a bucket for over 12 minutes as the Cougars outscored the Trojans 26-2 in the quarter.
Friedrich and
Lexi Miller each had eight first-half points for Columbia, which led 46-12 at the break. The Cougars shot 43.6 percent (17-39) from the field in the opening 20 minutes.
Columbia's lead grew to 40 (63-23) on a three-pointer by
Katherine Sievers with 3:13 left in the third. The Cougars outscored Hannibal-LaGrange 21-11 in the quarter.
Ivy Lesley scored 12 points for Hannibal-LaGrange, who was limited to 25.5 percent (14-55) shooting from the field in the loss.
The Cougars continue AMC play at Mission University (Springfield, Mo.) on Saturday, Nov. 23 at 1 p.m.
NOTES: Columbia won its 46th-straight game against Hannibal-LaGrange and leads the all-time series 49-1 ... Shetley went over 1,700 points (1,708) for her career and moved into seventh in career rebounds (664).
