Basketball Outlasts TMC for Second Win In a Row

The Columbia College Basketball team picked up their second consecutive home win with a 60-50 win over the visiting Truett-McConnell Lady Bears on Wednesday Night in Porter Gymnasium.

After a solid win last week against St. Andrews, the Fighting Koalas took on the Lady Bears who came in with a 5-5 record and sat fifth in the conference standings.

After falling behind by eight, Columbia closed out the half on a 5-0 run to cut the gap to three points, thanks to offensive rebounding and quality free-throw shooting.

The second half was a completely different story for the second game in a row, as the Koalas began on a 19-6 run, with BriAna Johnson and Azia Gibson leading the charge. After running the lead to eight, Rhandee Hammond scored five of her 18 points to cut the difference to three, but Columbia again responded with buckets from Alison Sobotaka and Johnson.

The Lady Bears began to run into foul trouble with only eight rostered players competing, and Columbia ended up with 37 foul shots compared to the Lady Bears 18. Clutch shooting from Johnson and Gibson pushed the lead back out to ten, and a final effort from Hammond was no good, gving the Koalas the ten point victory.

Leading Columbia were Azia Gibson with 16 points and 8 rebounds, and BriAna Johnson with 15 points and 5 rebounds. 

Coach Chen commented on the win, "Some games aren't pretty, but even an ugly win is a win. The girls showed a lot of pride on defense and I am proud of our defense for getting us the big win."

Columbia returns to action on Saturday at home against conference rival Reinhardt University.