Lady Pirates Win Third Straight With 95-59 Rout Of Columbia

SAVANNAH, Ga. - Sophomore Jazmin Walker led a quartet of Lady Pirates in double figures with a career-high 21 points as Armstrong Atlantic State University notched a 95-59 women's college basketball victory over Columbia (S.C.) on Tuesday evening at Alumni Arena.

The win was the third straight for the Lady Pirates (5-2) and Armstrong improved to a perfect 4-0 at home this season with the victory. Columbia fell to 4-6 with the loss.

The Lady Pirates led, 45-31, at halftime and stretched that lead out to 25 as Walker scored on four of five straight possessions to put the Pirates up, 70-45, with 10:25 remaining. Armstrong outscored the Fighting Koalas, 50-28, in the second half.

Walker hit 10-of-12 shots from the floor - including all six of her shots in the second half - en route to her career-high, besting the 18 points she had scored twice last season against North Georgia and against Francis Marion. Junior Brooke Long also tallied 21 points while sophomore Marissa Rimbert hit 8-of-11 shots from the floor en route to a career high-tying 16 points and freshman Mauri Wells added a double-double with 11 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.

"I thought in the first half, we didn't play team basketball at all," Armstrong head coach Matt Schmidt said. "In the second half, we did some things really well and they couldn't handle us off of our ball screens."

The 95 points scored by Armstrong were the most for the Lady Pirates since a 96-61 win over Anderson on Nov. 23, 2002.

Columbia was led by Kiara Fefie's 14 points and Emmie Bland's 10 points off the bench.

Armstrong hit 38-of-70 shots from the floor for a season-high 54.3 percentage, while Columbia hit just 23-of-60 shots from the floor for 38.3 percent. The Fighting Koalas committed 24 turnovers and the Lady Pirates enjoyed a 48-25 edge in rebounding, including an 18-8 edge on the offensive glass.

"I felt this was a good opportunity to play before a big regional tournament," Schmidt said. "Both the teams we are playing this weekend are very good in our region. You can only play against each other in practice so long, so it was good to go out there tonight and get in some action before this weekend."

The Lady Pirates host the 2010 Hampton Inn & Suites Fall Finals Classic on Friday and Saturday. Armstrong plays Mount Olive at 6:00 p.m. at Alumni Arena on Friday, then hosts Anderson (SC) at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday in the Lady Pirates' final action of the 2010 calendar year.