Women's Basketball Outlasts Pesky Rams, 78-74

COLUMBIA, SC- When two teams who know each other get together, you can usually expect fireworks. And that's precisely what the crowd inside of Porter Gymnasium got on Thursday night as the Columbia College Koalas prevailed over their crosstown rival, the CIU Rams, by a final mark of 78-74.

THE BASICS:

The win improves the Koala's overall record to 3-2 overall and 2-2 inside the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC). Meanwhile, the Rams slip to 1-4 and 0-3 in the AAC.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The first quarter started slowly as both teams felt each other out and found their flow.

The second quarter is where the Koalas made their hay.

With the score tied at 19-19, Columbia implemented a full-court trap; the pressure defense resulted in a 12-0 run over 2:36 of game time from 6:09 to 3:33. That stretch saw five Ram turnovers and two threes' from Anaya Muhammad... in total, the Koalas outscored the visitors 25-9.

CIU didn't go away without a fight, though.

The Rams spent the second half chipping away by scoring 48 points, 24 each quarter, but the youth of the Koalas shined as Muhammad scored ten clutch points in the fourth to close out the game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

Muhammad paced the Koala offense with a team-high 20 points in 30 minutes of action. Four Koalas eclipsed the double-digit mark as Carnasia Wells and Tysonia Lowe poured in 13, while Leah Page added ten off the bench.

The Koalas shot well from the charity stripe again, converting on 11 of 15 attempts.

UP NEXT:

Columbia returns to action on Saturday when they travel to Bryan for a 2 PM tip-off.