PARADISE ISLAND, The Bahamas – Riley Weiss scored a game-high 22 points and every available Lion recorded at least one assist, as the Columbia women's basketball team defeated Southern Miss, 85-66, on Sunday at the Battle 4 Atlantis. The tournament is being played from Imperial Arena at Atlantis Paradise Island.
Columbia (5-2) moves on to the consolation bracket championship game to take on Ball State (5-1) on Monday at 5 p.m. The Cardinals defeated Texas A&M on Sunday night, 75-62. Monday's contest is available to
watch live on FloCollege.
Weiss was joined in double figures scoring by senior captains
Kitty Henderson (16) and
Cecelia Collins (12), as well as a season-high 11 off the bench from first-year Maria Arrebola. Collins led all players with eight rebounds and seven assists.
Perri Page had a game-high four steals.
The Lions bounced back from a 10-point loss to Indiana on Saturday by knocking down 11 threes and shooting 48.5 percent from the field. They outscored the Lady Eagles 20-7 off turnovers, forcing 19 and coming up with 13 steals. The Lions also doubled up Southern Miss in second-chance points, 18-9, by crashing the boards for 20 offensive rebounds.
"There was a great response, especially in the second half," Columbia head coach
Megan Griffith said. "It's always difficult when you come off a loss, especially in a meaningful game yesterday. We were all trying to figure out, 'How do we turn the page?' I think we all committed to some things – our team took it seriously, we took it to heart – and I was happy to see that come to fruition in the second half.
"Southern Miss came out playing to win that game. We knew that and they are a well-coached program – we have a lot of respect for them … We knew we were going to get their best – nobody wants to come all the way down here and not give their best. I was happy with, again, what we did in the second half."
Seventeen of Weiss's points came in the first half, including a run of three consecutive treys at the beginning of the second quarter. The last of those forced Southern Miss (2-4) to call for time but it did not stop the run. The Lions went on to score 16 straight points to turn a 10-point deficit into a six-point lead.
Kitty Henderson splashed in one of her three triples on the night to cap the run.
Southern Miss battled back to tie things up last in the first half but first-year
Nasi Simmons gave the Lions one last bit of momentum heading into the locker rooms. She stole the ball away with six seconds left, drove all the way to the hoop and spun her shot around the rim and through as time expired.
Weiss was quieted some in the second half but the bench stepped up to create separation. Arrebola scored six third-quarter points, including a buzzer-beater at the end of teh third, while sophomore transfer
Marija Avlijas had six in the fourth on her way to a season-high eight. Columbia pushed the lead to double figures in the fourth quarter and doubled up Southern Miss, 24-12, to run away with the win.
"This is the first game that our bench production has been in double figures with 22 points.," Griffith added. "That says a lot about the response. I'm excited to carry that over into tomorrow."
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