Women’s Basketball falls in season opener vs. #24 Columbus State

Greeneville, Tenn. —- The Catawba College women's basketball team dropped its opening game of the season to 24th-ranked Columbus State, 90-70, in the Jersey Mike's Regional Challenge on Saturday night at Tusculum University.

TEAM STATISTICS

- Columbus State shots 31-for-76 (41 percent) from the field, while holding Catawba to 21-of-70 (30 percent) from the floor

- The Catawba Indians were 7-for-22 (32 percent) from three-point range; CSU was 3-of-26 (12 percent) from deep

- The Cougars went 25-of-33 (76 percent) from the foul line, while the Catawba Indians struggled to 21-for-36 (58 percent) from the charity stripe

- CSU held a slight edge in rebounds, 54-51, leading to a slight 23-18 advantage in second-chance points

- The Cougars recorded 19 assists to 27 turnovers compared to Catawba's 10 assists and 34 turnovers; Columbus State scored 36 points off turnovers to Catawba's 18

- CSU dominated the paint, out-scoring Catawba 52-20 and held a large lead in fastbreak points, 33-10

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

- Jada Porter scored a team-high 14 points on 6-for-12 shooting with seven rebounds

- Nala Baker chipped in 13 points, five rebounds and two steals

- Saniya Wilson was the third Catawba Indian in double figures in her first career start, logging 10 points and four assists

- Imani Williams scored nine points off the bench in her Catawba debut

- Bailee Goodlett also played in her first game for Catawba, netting seven points

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST QUARTER

- After Wilson netted the game's first points on a pair of free throws, Columbus State responded with a quick 5-0 run

- Bre'Lyn Snipes' layup pushed the Cougar lead to 12-5 near the midway point of the opening quarter

- Catawba quickly cut the deficit back to a single possession after Goodlett's three-pointer

- CSU answered with an 8-0 run to lead 20-9 with under two minutes to play

- Columbus State led 22-12 after 10 minutes

SECOND QUARTER

- The Cougars pushed their advantage to 30-16 near the six-minute mark of the second quarter

- Williams' triple sparked an 8-0 run that helped the Catawba Indians cut their deficit to single digits

- CSU responded with a three-pointer near the end of the half to lead 39-27 at the break

THIRD QUARTER

- Columbus State used an 8-0 run to grow their lead to 20 points less than three minutes into the second half

- The CSU lead hovered around 20 points until back-to-back Cougar layups pushed their advantage to 66-40

- Columbus State led 72-45 at the end of three quarters

FOURTH QUARTER

- Back-to-back triples from Baker and Porter jumpstarted an 8-0 run out of the gates of the fourth quarter for the Catawba Indians

- A 12-1 Columbus State run gave them their largest lead of the game at 84-54

- Another Williams triple started a late Catawba 7-0 run

- The Catawba deficit did get to within 18, but would get no closer

UP NEXT

- Catawba returns to action tomorrow, facing Lees-McRae for a 2 p.m. tip