Saturday, December 29, 2001
#18 Lady Cougars Squeak By #11 Presbyterian 65-59
Columbus, GA - The Columbus State University Lady Cougars used a 9-2 run over the game’s final two minutes to erase a one-point deficit and hold on for a 65-59 win over Presbyterian College in a battle of two Top 20 Division II teams.
The
19th-ranked Lady Cougars move to 9-3 on the year, while
11th-ranked Presbyterian moves to 8-3. The game was also a key
early-season matchup of South Atlantic Region teams.
Candace
Turner scored 11 of her 18 points in the game’s final
nine minutes to help propel the Lady Cougars to the win. She
sank a pair of free-throws with 21 ticks left on the clock to
give CSU a four-point lead at 63-59. Denise Stubbs then
canned two more charity tosses with three seconds left to ice
the win.
The
two teams played as expected from the opening tip. There were
three lead changes and four ties in the first half, but it was
the Blue Hose who held a slim 32-30 advantage going into the
break. The statistics were nearly identical in every category
in the first half, with PC hitting one more field goal for the
difference.
In
the second half, the Blue Hose pushed the lead to six points
on a couple of occasions but could never pull away. CSU tied
the game at 44 with 8:19 to play on a Turner lay-up and from
there the two teams swapped the lead seven times and were tied
four more times before the Lady Cougars pulled ahead to stay
in the final minute.
In
addition to Turner’s 18 points, Kellie Holland
chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds. Aja Brown added
seven points and eight boards, as well. The Lady Cougars shot
just 38 percent for the game but forced 21 turnovers –
including two in the final minute – to make up for the
missing offense.
Ja’net Vicks led the Blue Hose with a career-high 16 points and 10 rebounds. Toni Leopard dropped in 15 points and pulled down six boards, as well.