Women’s Basketball Wins Sixth AMC Tournament Championship

Batesville, Ark. – For the sixth time in program history, the Columbia College women’s basketball team are the champions of the American Midwest Conference (AMC) Women’s Basketball Tournament. 
 
The No. 2-seeded Cougars (26-6) went on the road and took down the defending AMC tournament champions and No. 1-seed Lyon (27-4), 53-48. 
 
The Cougars were able to silence the crowd midway through the first period, when Clare Shetley drained a three-point field goal, giving Columbia an 8-2 advantage and forcing a Lyon timeout. The Scots climbed back with two points (10-8), but a triple from Abby Backes increased the Cougar lead back to five (13-8). Columbia would lead 18-12 after the first 10 minutes. 
 
Columbia’s lead reached 13 in the second quarter on an Allison Stiers 3-pointer with 6:50 on the clock. Neither team would score over the next three-plus minutes. After a triple from Lyon, the Cougars tallied the following four points to take a 31-17 advantage. Columbia led 33-20 at the break. 
 
A Mallory Shetley field goal just past the midway point of the third quarter gave Columbia their largest lead of the game at 19 points (43-24). Then Lyon started chipping away. A layup by the Scots with 23 seconds left got them within 11 points (45-34) heading to the final period. 
 
The Scots started the final quarter on a 6-0 run and trimmed the Cougar lead down to six. Allison Stiers drove the lay for two points at the 5:31 mark to stop the run. The Scots went down and hit a triple, making the score 47-42, with 4:12 left. Columbia responded with the following two buckets, one by Clare Shetley and the other from Kamryn Mennemeyer, increasing the lead to nine and essentially out of reach. Columbia went on to win the game, 53-48. 
 
Key Moment:
The Scots started the fourth quarter on a 6-0 run and got within six points, but a layup from Allison Stiers stopped the Lyon run. 
 
By the Numbers:
31-28 – Columbia held a slight advantage in rebounds. 
15 – The Cougars forced 15 turnovers. 
7 – All seven players that saw action scored at least two points.
 
Columbia Leaders:
Scoring Leader – Mallory Shetley (16)
Rebounding Leader – Clare Shetley (12)
Assist Leader – Mallory Shetley (3)
Steals Leader – Clare Shetley (3)
 
Lyon Leaders:
Scoring Leader – Jade Giron (15)
Rebounding Leader – Jade Giron (6)
Assist Leader – Allison Byars (6)
Steals Leader – Jade Giron (3)
 
Up Next:
Columbia will head to the NAIA National Championship Opening Round on March 11-12. Opponent and location will be released on Thursday, March 3 at 6 PM CST live on the NAIA Facebook page.