Women’s Basketball Rings in New Year with Win

Columbia, Mo. – The Columbia College women’s basketball team rang in the new year with a 98-79 victory over University of Saint Mary in non-conference action Sunday at Southwell Complex.
 
Leading by two (72-70) with 9:21 to play, Columbia went on a 12-0 run in the next four minutes to put the game out of reach. 
 
Columbia won its fifth-straight game to improve to 10-3, while Saint Mary fell to 8-6. 
 
Mallory Shetley scored a career-high 26 points on 12-of-19 shooting, and also added a career-best nine assists and six rebounds. Lexi Miller (18 points), Peyton Crowe (15 points), Hannah Ferguson (13 points, 11 rebounds) and Allison Stiers (10 points) also scored in double figures. Columbia shot 50.7 percent (36-71) from the field and hit 12 threes in the win.
 
A three-point play by Ferguson gave the Cougars their first lead of the game (14-13) with 5:17 left in the first quarter. Back-to-back threes by Miller highlighted an 8-0 run as the Columbia lead grew to 22-16. The score was tied after one quarter (29-29) as the Cougars shot 69.2 percent (9-13) from the field and hit 3-of-4 from three-point range. 
 
Mackenzie Hess nailed her third three-pointer of the game to give the Cougars a five-point advantage (39-34), and then a triple by Crowe pushed the lead to 44-38 with 4:36 to play. Columbia went on a 14-2 run late in the second quarter and took a 56-46 lead to half.
 
The Cougars shot 57.1 percent (20-35) from the field in the first half and hit 8-of-14 from three-point range. Crowe and Shetley each had 12 points.
 
Columbia took a 60-46 lead with 8:01 left in the third quarter, but Saint Mary hit four-straight three-pointers and added a free-throw to trim the lead to one (60-59). The Cougars responded with a 7-0 run, highlighted by a three-pointer by Crowe, to make it 67-59.
 
Paige Pendley (17), Alanis Delgado (16), Tanea Sims (13) and Jerric Johnson (11) scored in double figures for Saint Mary, which hit 11-of-22 threes in the loss.
 
Columbia leads the all-time series 3-0.
 
The Cougars host William Woods University on Saturday, Jan. 7 at 1 p.m.