Columbus State Women’s Basketball Defeats By LaGrange 78-63

COLUMBUS – Columbus State women’s basketball raced out to an early 25-12 lead and cruised to a 78-63 victory over LaGrange College in an exhibition contest Wednesday night at the Lumpkin Center.

CSU jumped out to a 9-1 advantage three minutes into the contest before the Panthers responded with a 10-3 run cutting the lead to 12-11 with 14:15 to go in the first half.  The Lady Cougars defense clamped down spurring a 33-13 run to close out the half.  Nakita Holt led the way scoring 11 of her 16 first half points during the run and Tandria Milton chipped in with seven points.

Coming out of the half with a 45-24 lead, Columbus State continued the defensive intensity keeping LaGrange off the scoreboard for over four minutes to start the second frame.  Marina DeFoor hit a three-pointer with 14:37 remaining in the game giving the hosts their biggest lead of the game, 51-26.  CSU had six different players score at least four points in the second half led by Dominique Gilbert’s eight points.  

Holt and Gilbert paced Columbus State each scoring 16 points apiece while Milton chipped in with 11.  Holt just missed out on a double-double grabbing nine rebounds, tied with Chatil Bradford for the game-high.  Nine different players scored for CSU as they shot 42.6% from the floor.  Columbus State held the visitors to shooting just 34% from the floor and 1-for-10 from downtown.

LaGrange was led by Caroline Brashier and Katie Covington, scoring 13 and 12 points, respectively.  Kiah Britton and Holli Vann recorded seven rebounds apiece.

The Lady Cougars will open up the regular season this weekend when it hosts Barry University Sunday afternoon.  The Bucs return nine players from last year’s 21-10 team that reached the NCAA Tournament.  Tipoff is set for 1:00 p.m. at the Lumpkin Center.