FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 2-26-05

Women's College Basketball: Columbus State 92, AASU 83

Release Courtesy of Columbus State University Sports Information

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Columbus State scored the game's first 14 points and appeared on its way to a rout here Saturday against Armstrong Atlantic State. Someone forgot to tell the Pirates.

AASU clawed its way back into the game and made the Lady Cougars work for every single point in a hard-fought 92-83 win. CSU moves to 19-8 overall and 12-4 in the Peach Belt Conference and will enter the PBC Tournament as the number two seed from the South Division.

The Pirates scored their first points of the game on a Briana Milam three-pointer with 15:12 to play in the opening half. They would begin to chip away and cut the margin to single digits at the 11:43 mark to make it 22-13. After CSU extended the lead back to double figures, AASU used a 9-0 run to cut the lead to 33-28 with 3:35 left on an Alicia Durham layup. That would be as close as they would get in the first half, but trailed just 44-37 going into the locker room.

The Pirates out-scored CSU 9-2 to open the second half and tied the game at 46 with 17:06 to play. The Lady Cougars then rattled off nine unanswered points to go up 55-46 three minutes later. Later in the half, AASU would use a 6-0 run to cut the CSU lead to a single point at 66-65 with 9:09 left. Again at the 8:29 mark the Pirates cut the lead to one on a Jasmine Herron layup.

CSU answered with a 6-0 run to go up by seven and AASU would get no closer than four points the rest of the way. The Lady Cougars effectively put the game with a 10-2 run capped by a Lucia Heston free-throw to put CSU up 86-74 with 2:08 to play. CSU was able to hit 6-8 free throws down the stretch to keep the Pirates at bay and take the nine-point win.

Milam led six Pirate players in double digits with 15 points and was 4-9 from three-point range. Jasmine Herron added 14 points, while Ramona Wright and Jamie Sheridan added 12 points each. Alicia Durham scored 11 points and grabbed eight rebounds, whil Lavonne Thomas posted a double-double with 10 points and 11 boards. AASU shot 37 percent overall for the game.

Erin Gibbs came off the bench to lead CSU with 22 points on 7-11 shooting and 8-13 at the free-throw line. Noelle Griffin added 20 points, five rebounds, and five assists, while Lucia Heston tallied 14 points, three assists, seven rebounds, and five steals. Cherwonna Walker posted her fourth-straight double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds, followed by 10 points from Angie Parkman. CSU shot 42 percent from the floor overall and held a 48-41 advantage on the boards.

- Pirates -