NEW YORK - Courtney Bradford scored 17 points and added
12 rebounds with three steals to lead Columbia to a 63-58 win over Army in
Levien Gymnasium Sunday, November 27.
Columbia led from the
17-minute mark in the first half and did not trail again, despite a furious
Black Knights rally late in the second half.
Columbia had their
biggest lead of the first period at 7:51 when Taylor Ward stole the ball from
Army's Liz Benedict and went the length of the court to score a layup to make
it 18-8. Army then went on an 8-0 run over the next two minutes to cut the lead
to two, 18-16, but Columbia answered with a free throw by Bradford at 5:04 to
lead 19-16.
Army closed the half
on a 7-6 run, but Columbia led 28-23 at the break.
Columbia came out of
the locker room strong, extending the lead to 11 on four points by Bradford,
four by Brittany Simmons and a layup by Taylor Ball.
The teams traded
baskets, and Columbia held a 13-point lead until the 9:56 mark. Army's Olivia Schretzman sparked an 11-4
Black Knights run over a four-minute span to cut the lead to 54-48 with just
over six minutes remaining.
Army continued to
chip away at the lead with consecutive steals and layups by Ciara Jackson and
Anna Simmers. Jen Hazlett and Schretzman
scored on free throws and a layup
respectively to knot the game at 56-56 with 3:48 remaining, but that was
as close as Army would get. Free throws
by Tyler Simpson just under a minute later gave Columbia the lead for good.
Bradford, Melissa
Shafer and Ball each added free throws down the stretch to ice the win.
Ball paced Columbia with seven assists and added
10 points in the Lions' first win of the season. Shafer and Simpson each added eight
points.
Schretzman led all
scorers with 20 points in 39 minutes of action.
Columbia (1-5) shot
38 percent for the game, including 45 percent in the second half. Army (5-1) shot 39.2 percent for the
game. Columbia had 11 assists and 10
steals to Army's 10 assists and six steals.
Columbia returns to
action on Thursday, when they host San Diego at 7 p.m.
