Cougars Fall in AMC Road Contest at Stephens

Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College women’s basketball team could not overcome a slow start at Stephens College on Sunday as the Cougars suffered a 77-66 loss in a battle of teams receiving votes in the NAIA Top-25 Poll.
 
Stephens snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 6-4 (1-0 AMC), while Columbia had its four-game win streak snapped and fell to 9-3 (3-1 AMC).
 
Mallory Shetley led the Cougars with 18 points, while DeLaney Horstman (17 points, nine rebounds) and Allison Stiers (10) also scored in double figures.
 
The Cougars shot 49.1 percent (26-53) from the field and hit 7-of-16 from three, but committed a season-high 17 turnovers in the loss.
 
Columbia started slowly, missing eight of its first nine shots from the field and trailed 11-2 in the opening five minutes A bucket by Horstman and a three-pointer by Sydney Reddin trimmed the advantage to 11-7, but the Stars held an 18-11 lead after 10 minutes.
 
Aushara Hostetler connected on a three on the first possession of the second quarter to extend the Stars’ lead to double figures at 21-11. Columbia trimmed the deficit to 25-18 on a lay-up by Horstman with 7:34 left before half, but that would be as close as the Cougars would get before intermission and trailed 38-25.
 
Horstman had 11 points to lead Columbia, who hit 11-of-29 (37.9) percent from the field in the opening half.
 
The Cougars got back into the contest with a 6-0 run to trim the lead to single digits (47-39), and then three-pointers from Lexi Miller and Stiers got the lead down to 50-47 with 1:18 to play. The Cougars nailed their last five shots from the field and shot 72.7 percent (8-11) in the third quarter, but trailed 55-47 heading to the fourth. 
 
Columbia went without a field goal for almost four minutes early in the fourth quarter and the Stephens’ lead grew to 69-52. The Cougars shot 62.5 percent (15-24) from the field in the second half, including 6-of-8 from three.
 
Chu Crockett led Stephens with a double-double of 21 points and 13 rebounds, while Zaraya March (14) and Lauren Friedrich (10) also scored in double figures. The Stars outrebounded Columbia 33-31 and had an 18-6 advantage in points off turnovers.
 
The Cougars have 20 days off before hosting University of Saint Mary on Sunday, Dec. 30 at 1 p.m.
 
NOTES: Columbia leads the all-time series with Stephens 31-2 … The Stars are 4-0 at home this season.