Conway, Ark. – The Columbia College women's basketball team erased a four-point halftime deficit by opening the third quarter on a 9-0 run, pulling away for an 81-59 victory at Central Baptist College on Saturday in Conway, Ark.
 
The Cougars outscored Central Baptist 52-26 in the second half.
 
Lexi Miller just missed a double-double with a game-high 23 points and nine rebounds, while Lauren Friedrich scored 15 of her career-high 20 points in the second half. Mya Miller had 15 points and seven rebounds and Lexi Rubel had a double-double with 11 points, 14 rebounds and six assists. The Cougars hit 13 threes in the victory.
 
Columbia won its fifth-straight game to improve to 16-1 and 7-0 in the American Midwest Conference, while Central Baptist fell to 6-9 and 3-4 in the AMC.
 
The Cougars missed 12 of their first 14 shots and trailed 10-4 through the first six minutes of play. Back-to-back threes by Lexi Miller and Emma Daniels cut the deficit to three (13-10), and Macie Harman's layup with 42 seconds remaining pulled Columbia within one at 15-14 at the end of the first quarter. Daniels led the Cougars with five points in the opening period.
 
Lexi Miller scored eight straight points, including a pair of three-pointers, as the Cougars regained the lead at 24-22 with 5:41 remaining before half. Lauren Friedrich knocked down her first three of the game to put Columbia back on top, but the Cougars went into the break trailing 33-29.
 
Columbia struggled shooting the ball in the first half, hitting just 12-of-37 shots (32.4 percent), including 5-of-19 from beyond the arc. Lexi Miller led the Cougars with 11 points and seven rebounds at the half.
 
Mya Miller opened the third quarter with three buckets to highlight a 9-0 run as the Cougars took the 38-33 and forced a 30-second timeout by Central Baptist. Friedrich's three-point play pushed the advantage to 43-35 with 5:23 left in the third.
 
Friedrich (nine points) and Mya Miller (eight) combined to score 17 of the 24 points in the third quarter as the Cougars led 53-47.
 
Friedrich and Lexi Miller opened the fourth quarter with a pair of threes as the lead grew to 59-47 with 8:15 to play. The Cougars put the game out of reach with a 9-0 run.
 
Lexi Duck (21 points), Raigan Head (12) and Riley Whittington (10) scored in double figures for CBC, who was limited to 32.3 percent (21-65) shooting from the field in the loss.
 
The Cougars host Stephens College on Thursday, January 22 at 5:30 p.m.
 
NOTES: Columbia has won 16-straight games against CBC and leads the all-time series 23-1.