COLUMBIA, S.C. – Milligan University's women's basketball team entered Thursday night's matchup at Columbia International University with a half-game lead in the Appalachian Athletic Conference standings. The Lady Buffs hold the tiebreakers over second-place Bryan and third-place Reinhardt, who each trail by one half game. The Buffs took care of their business on the road in S.C., taking home a 78-53 victory to clinch the No. 1 seed in the AAC Tournament that begins on Wednesday.

CIU opened the contest by scoring the first six points, while holding MU scoreless in the first 5:27. Lexi Ervin got the Buffs on the board at the 4:33 mark with a pair of free throws and followed them up with a three-pointer. Then, Caroline Krueger scored a basket at the rim to cap a 7-0 Milligan run, bringing them within one point with three minutes and 23 seconds remaining. In the final three minutes, both sides traded baskets and a deep ball at the end of the quarter from the Rams gave them a 17-13 lead going into the second. CIU scored 17 points on 6-of-11 (54.5%) shooting in the quarter, while MU scored their 14 points on a disappointing 5-of-19.

Milligan's shooting performance would flip in the second stanza leading to them taking control of the game. The Buffs and Rams traded shots from beyond the arc to start the scoring in the quarter. It took Milligan until the 4:55 mark to will their way back into the lead when Semaj Clark buried a triple to put them ahead 29-28. From there, a hot-shooting Buffaloes team extended the lead to 39-30 behind a 10-2 scoring run. The run would continue until the end of the quarter, when Kenzie Campbell and McKenna Myers added two points to make it 43-30 going into the halftime break.

In the third quarter, Milligan tacked on 30 points on 11-of-16 (68.8%) shooting from the floor and an impressive 6-of-8 (75%) from three. CIU added 13 points on 4-of-12 (33.3%) shooting from the floor and 1-of-5 shooting from three. Milligan continued their run from the end of the second quarter into the third, when Campbell knocked down a three-pointer to extend the Buffs' lead to 16 at 46-30. The offense continued to click on all cylinders throughout the quarter for the Buffs, as at the 5:20 mark the lead had ballooned to 25 at 58-33. In the final five minutes, both sides traded baskets keeping the lead at 25, until Campbell converted on two free throws to give MU their largest lead of the game of 26 at 68-42 going into the fourth. The Buffs added 25 points on 10-of-23 (43.5%) shooting, while the Rams scored 12 points on 4-of-15 (26.7%) shooting in the quarter.

The fourth quarter provided an opportunity to rest many of Milligan's regular contributors, as they coasted to a 78-53 victory to clinch the AAC regular season conference title.

Semaj Clark led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-19 shooting from the floor and she went 3-of-5 from three . McKenna Myers went 6-for-11 and poured in 13 points. Lexi Ervin reached double-digit scoring with 10 points, while seven other Buffs chipped in on the scoring.

Lina Lyon led the squad with six assists. Clark dished out five, Bremer shared the sugar three times and Campbell passed out two. The duo of Myers and Ervin each had one.
Both Clark and Makenzie Bremer hauled in eight boards to lead the squad, while Myers and Calie Reeder grabbed seven of them. Lyon and Naomi Atchley snatched four, Campbell and Krueger brought in three apiece.

Clark, Myers and Lyon had two thefts in the win. Reeder and Dachelle Lucas took the ball away once, while Clark and Romy Bos each sent a shot away.

With the top seed clinched, Milligan will have one final game on Sunday, Feb. 22 inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse. The Buffs will face off against conference opponent Tennessee Wesleyan in their final regular season game, with a chance to clinch the outright AAC Regular-Season Championship in 2025-26. Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m.