Cougars Rally Falls Short at Western Illinois

Macomb, Ill. – The Columbia College women’s basketball team trimmed a 19-point second half lead to five but fell short in a 70-57 loss Monday at NCAA Division I Western Illinois University in Macomb, Ill. The game was played as an exhibition and doesn’t count towards the overall record.
 
Peyton Crowe led the Cougars with 13 first-half points, while Mallory Shetley added 12 points. Abby Backes had eight points and nine rebounds for the Cougars, who shot 36.2 percent (21-58) from the field and outrebounded WIU 40-39.
 
FIRST QUARTER
The Cougars started quick and held a 7-2 advantage on a jumper by Crowe. She followed with a three-pointer to give Columbia a 10-7 advantage. Western Illinois held a 25-19 lead after the first quarter as Crowe had 11 of the 19 points for the Cougars.
 
SECOND QUARTER
The Leathernecks went on a 12-2 run in the second quarter and took a 40-26 lead to the locker room. Columbia hit just 3-of-12 from the field and had six turnovers in the second.
 
Crowe led Columbia with 13 points on 5-of-7 shooting from the field as the Cougars shot 10-of-26 (38.5%) and hit 4-of-10 from three-point range. Columbia outrebounded WIU 17-16 in the first half but were hampered by 13 turnovers.
 
THIRD QUARTER
Columbia outscored WIU 16-15 in the third quarter to trim the advantage to 55-42. The Cougars limited the Leathernecks to 4-of-18 (22.2%) shooting in the quarter.
 
FOURTH QUARTER
The Cougars opened the final quarter with back-to-back threes from Lexi Miller and Allison Stiers to trim the advantage to 55-48 with 7:55 to play. Shetley scored seven-straight points to get the lead down to five (62-57) with 3:13 to play but that would be as close as the Cougars would get.
 
Alissa Dins led Western Illinois with 17 points, while Jada Thorpe (16) and Elizabeth Lutz (13) also scored in double figures. The Leathernecks had a 22-6 advantage in points off turnovers and hit 20-of-25 from the foul line.
 
This marked the first meeting between Columbia and Western Illinois since Dec. 31, 2002.
 
The Cougars open the season on Thursday, Oct. 27 at home against Central Christian College of the Bible at 7 p.m. This marks the first of four home games to open the regular season.