COLUMBIA, S.C. — Milligan University's women's basketball team looked to stay perfect in Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) play on Saturday afternoon when they faced off against the Koalas of Columbia College (S.C.). After a tightly contested first half, the Buffaloes' strong third-quarter performance led them to a 72-64 victory despite a thrilling fourth-quarter finish.
Columbia scored the first points of the game on a layup, but Milligan answered with a bucket from
McKenna Myers to tie the score at two. The Koalas made their first two shots from beyond the arc and five of their first nine shots from the field to take a 12-6 lead five minutes into the game. The Lady Buffs offense got off to a sluggish start, their five first quarter turnovers led to 9 points in transition for the Koalas. The slow start offensively for MU paired with a CC offense that was clicking on all cylinders led to a 18-6 lead for the Koalas at the 3-minute mark. However, in the final minutes of the frame steals from Myers and
Lina Lyon led to a
Semaj Clark jumper and Lyon layup to close the gap to six points at 18-12 heading into the second quarter. Columbia College converted on 6-of-14 shots from the field, while Milligan finished on a 6-of-17 clip in the quarter. The difference in scoring came from the Koalas knocking down two triples compared to the Lady Buffs zero, as well as Columbia going a perfect 4-4 from the free throw line while Milligan was unable to make their way to the charity stripe in the first frame.
The Buffs scored the first points of the second on layup from
Makenzie Bremer, but the Koalas answered with a jumper. From there, the momentum garnered by MU at the end of the first powered them to a 10-0 scoring run behind a pair of layups from Bremer to retake the lead at 24-20 three minutes into the quarter. Both sides traded baskets over the next six minutes and 30 seconds of gameplay, until a 7-0 run from the Koalas gave them a one-point lead with less than ten seconds remaining. In the final ten seconds,
Kenzie Campbell was able to clean up a missed layup and score a putback layup at the buzzer to give the Lady Buffs a 39-38 advantage at the end of the half. In the second quarter, MU scored 27 points on 11-of-22 shooting and CC scored 20 points on a more efficient 8-of-14 shooting. The Buffs went 1-2 from the three-point line, while the Koalas made three of their six attempts. Milligan dominated the paint by scoring 16 points from close range compared to Columbia's two. Overall, Milligan held a 26-4 advantage on points in the paint at the break.
The second half started the same way the first half ended with a Campbell putback layup. Miscues offensively slowed down the Koalas while the Buffs remained in stride, as they scored the first eight points to take a 47-38 lead four minutes into the third period. Columbia showed they were not going to go away without a fight by scoring the next four points, but back-to-back buckets from Clark followed by a
Callie Reeder jumper gave Milligan their largest lead of 11 up to this point of the game at 55-44 with 2:20 remaining in the third. In the final two minutes, both sides traded baskets and MU took a 59-49 lead into the final quarter. The Buffs scored 20 points on 10-of-19 shooting, while the Koalas scored 11 points on 5-of-18 shooting.
In the fourth, Milligan wasted no time building a lead that felt insurmountable for the Koalas, as they scored the first four points to extend their lead from 10 to 14 a minute into the final quarter. However, the Koalas simply would not go away; they battled their way back into the contest, and a layup with 2:15 left brought them within three at 65-62. After Columbia missed a potential game tying three-pointer, Clark knocked down a shot from beyond the arc with just over a minute to play that proved to be the dagger. Down the stretch, Lyon scooped in a layup, and despite the late pressure from CC, MU avoided disaster by winning the free throw battle to pick up a hard fought 72-64 victory on the road to remain unblemished in AAC play.
Clark led the Buffs in scoring, scoring 20 points on 8-of-21 shooting from the field and a 2-of-4 clip from a distance. She also made both of her crucial free throw attempts in the final minute. Bremer poured in 13 points in the win with a 7-of-17 line. Myers tacked on eight points and
Naomi Atchley and Campbell each came away with six. Reeder rounded out the Lady Buffs scoring with a fourth quarter jumper to finish a perfect 1-for-1.
Milligan compiled eight assists in the contest, led by Lyon who dished out three. Clark and Myers each had two dimes, while Campbell passed out the final assist.
Clark's 12 rebounds paced the Lady Buffs and completed her double-double, while Myers hauled in seven. Bremer snatched five backboards followed by Campbell with four, and the trio of Lyon, Reeder and Atchley brought in three.
Lexi Ervin grabbed two boards to account for the Lady Buffs 38 total rebounds.
Defensively, Myers took the ball away three times, while Clark, Campbell, Bremer, Lyon and Ervin each had one takeaway, respectively. The Buffs did not record a single rejection in the 40 minutes of action.
The streak of conference games played without a loss now stands at 12 this season, as the Buffs (13-6, 12-0 AAC) now look forward to returning home on Wednesday, Jan. 21 for a matchup with the Bears of the University of Pikeville. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.
