COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Columbia College women's basketball team was outscored 18-4 in the final 3:36 as the Cougars suffered an 80-75 loss to Friends University in a battle of teams receiving votes in the NAIA Top-25 Poll on Wednesday at the Arena of Southwell Complex.
Friends won its eighth-straight game to improve to 12-1, while Columbia suffered its first loss of the season and dropped to 11-1.
Ashtyn Klusmeyer led the Cougars with 25 points, while Lexi Miller had 20 and Mya Miller chipped in with 12. The Cougars drained 10 threes in the loss.
Columbia, returning to the court after a 15-day layoff, held Friends scoreless on its first four shot attempts and jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the opening three minutes. Back-to-back three-pointers from Klusmeyer extended the advantage to 11-3.
Emma Daniels buried a corner three to push the lead into double figures at 17-7 as the Cougars connected on their fourth straight field goal. Columbia led 20-13 after one quarter of play, paced by eight points by Mya Miller.
Lexi Miller knocked down a three from the top of the key to restore a double-digit advantage at 25–15, but Friends answered with a 9-0 run to cut the lead to one. The Cougars went more than four minutes without a field goal (4:08) during the stretch.
Rayland Garner scored five points in a 25-second span to give the Falcons a 31-30 lead at halftime. Columbia shot just 32.4 percent (11-of-34) from the field in the first half and was outrebounded 22-19. Lexi Miller led the Cougars with 11 points.
Klusmeyer scored the first seven points of the third quarter as the Cougars regained the 37-36 lead, and then back-to-back buckets from Tori Rubel made it 48-46. Columbia ended the third quarter on a 6-0 run to take the 54-50 lead.
Lauren Friedrich's three-pointer pushed the lead to 66-60, and then scored on a lay-up to make it 71-62 with 3:37 to play. Friends responded with a 10-0 run to take the 72-71 lead with 1:27 to play. The Falcons outscored the Cougars 30-21 in the final quarter.
Garner scored a game-high 34 points for Friends, while Lauryn McIver (18) and Abigail Barr (11) also scored in double figures.
The Cougars have a week off before stepping back into American Midwest Conference (AMC) play at Hannibal-LaGrange University on Tuesday, January 6 at 5:30 p.m.
NOTES: Columbia leads the all-time series 2-1 … Lexi Miller moved into fifth on the all-time list in career threes made (223) and 14th in scoring (1,195) … The game featured seven ties and 11 lead changes.
