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Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College women’s basketball team celebrated Senior Day with a 68-52 win over Williams Woods University Saturday at the Arena of Southwell Complex.
Prior to the game, Columbia honored its four seniors: Mackenzie Hess, Allison Stiers, Jasmine Taylor and Madison Weydert.
Columbia won its fourth-straight game to improve to 22-4 (14-2 AMC), while William Woods lost its second-consecutive contest and fell to 13-12 (7-9 AMC). The Cougars remain in a three-way tie for first place in the AMC standings with Stephens and Williams Baptist.
DeLaney Horstman led the Cougars with 21 points (10-16 FG) and nine rebounds, while Lexi Miller and Mallory Shetley added 11 points each. Columbia shot 43.5 percent (27-62) from the field in the win and outrebounded William Woods 49-23.
William Woods led Columbia 18-14 after one quarter, limiting the Cougars to 33.3 percent (5-15) shooting from the field with six turnovers. Columbia missed eight of nine shots from the field at one point, but a three by Miller with 19 seconds left cut the deficit to four.
The Cougars opened the second quarter on a 15-3 run to jump in front 29-21 with 4:00 left. Columbia hit five-straight shots from the field, including back-to-back threes from Hess.
Columbia limited William Woods to 35.7 percent (10-28) shooting from the field and led 31-27 at half. Horstman had seven points and Hess added six for the Cougars, who outrebounded the Owls 24-11 but turned the ball over 12 times.
Horstman scored back-to-back buckets to extend the Cougar lead to 37-29, and then a three-point from Hess pushed the advantage to 44-35 and forced a William Woods timeout.
Horstman had 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the third quarter as the Cougars took a 55-42 lead to the fourth. Columbia hit 10-of-16 (62.5 percent) from the field in the third.
Sydney Booker had 16 points and eight rebounds while Peyton Dearing added 11 for William Woods, who hit 11-of-11 from the free-throw line in the loss.
The Cougars begin a two-game road trip to end regular season play on Thursday, Feb. 22 at Harris-Stowe State University. Tip-off is set for 5:30 p.m.
NOTES: Columbia has won seven-straight meetings against William Woods and leads the all-time series 41-11 … The Cougars improved to 14-0 at home this season and has won 28-consecutive games at the Arena of Southwell Complex … Columbia has won 22 or more games in 15 of the last 16 seasons.