LAURINBURG — The St. Andrews University women’s basketball team won their third straight game of the season on Thursday rolling to an 87-79 win over conference foe Columbia College (S.C.) that wasn’t as close as the final score might indicate.

St. Andrews put on another offensive show in the first half scoring 27 points in the first quarter and 22 more in the second to run out to a sizable 49-36 lead at the break.

The Lady Knights shot a quality 48.7 percent in the first half and 38.5 percent from three while Columbia only managed to shoot 30 percent and 27.8 percent from three.

Even though Columbia came out in the second half and shot much better going 16-of-32, the Lady Knights kept up their consistent scoring to lead 70-53 after three quarters. Columbia would not quit and went on a 9-0 spurt to open the fourth quarter trimming St. Andrew’s lead down to eight points at 70-62 with 7:30 remaining — that would be as close as they would come.

St. Andrews junior point guard Bree Cowan led the Lady Knights down the stretch with some clutch shot-making as she led all scorers with 20 points on 9-of-18 shooting along with a team-high four assists and three steals.

The Lady Knights finished the game shooting 48.6 percent while Columbia shot 38.7 percent overall. Each team struggled from three-point range and free-throw line as neither side shot better than 32 percent. St. Andrews forced Columbia into 21 turnovers while registering 12 steals and out-rebounding the Koalas 51-44 after losing the rebounding battle in the first quarter.

St. Andrews had four ladies in double-figures led by sophomore guard Samantha Ring’s 15 points, four rebounds, two assists, and two steals.

Defensively, freshman forward Morgan Perkins led St. Andrews with her first double-double of the season scoring 11 points with a team high 10 rebounds, two blocks, and four steals. Senior forward Ellen Dukes had a nice game recording 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting along with eight rebounds, a block, and a steal.

Guards Kyara Cooper and Courtney Rowe played well combining for 14 points and six assists. Freshman forward Aquera Johnson and freshman guard Nijha Shannon combined for 12 points and 11 rebounds with Shannon adding two assists and two steals.

The Lady Knights improve to 3-0 on the season and 2-0 in the conference with the win while Columbia falls to 0-4 and 0-2.

St. Andrews will be the road in Barbourville, Kentucky to face Union College on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

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By Troy Baranik

SAU Sports Information Director