Lady Koalas Hold Off Bluefield to Win 3rd Straight

BLUEFIELD, Va. - The Columbia College women's hoops team won their third straight game by defeating the Bluefield Rams 60-55 in AAC action on the road Saturday afternoon in Virginia.

The Koalas put four women in double-figure scoring on the day while shooting 34.5% as a team overall with four 3-pointers. The Lady Rams shot 35% overall and made nine threes on 32 percent shooting but CC made six more free throws than BU.

Leading the Koalas was junior guard Anaya Muhammad with 13 points and three 3-pointers along with 3 steals and an assist while freshman guard Makiah Thompson added 10 points with 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and a block in the win.

AAC Defender of the Week, senior De'Asia Feaster also played well nearly recording another double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds on 5 of 9 shooting while junior forward Taylor Boddie added 10 points (4 of 6), with 2 boards and a steal off the bench. Junior guard Tysonia Lowe also chipped in 5 points along with team-highs in assists with four and steals with five. Columbia grabbed 17 total steals while forcing 27 Bluefield turnovers.

CC led 10-8 after a low-scoring first quarter and then 25-20 at halftime. Columbia then won the third quarter 15-11 to take a 40-31 lead into the fourth. BU trimmed the Koala lead down to two at 44-42 with 5:30 to play. However, CC extended their lead back out to ten points at 53-43 with 3 minutes to play going on a 9-1 run. Then, three late three-pointers from Bluefield's Abby Quinn got the Rams to within one at 55-54 before Columbia knocked down their free throws to secure the win.

The Koalas improve to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in the conference while BU falls to 0-5 overall and 0-2 in the AAC.

Columbia now returns home to host Voorhees University (SC) in non-conference action on Monday at 6:00 pm.