Lady Cougars Ground Falcons 67-53

Columbus, Ga. -- Columbus State's Phebe Smith poured in 25 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead the Lady Cougars to a 67-53 Peach Belt Conference win over visiting Montevallo on Wednesday. The win moves CSU to 12-8 overall and 6-4 in the PBC, while UM falls to 101-, 3-7.

Smith went 9-11 from the floor on the night and also hit seven of eight free-throw attempts in the contest. She now has 990 points in her CSU career and has moved into eighth place on the all-time scoring list for the Lady Cougars. She will attempt to become the seventh player to score over 1,000 points in her career, and just the second to do it in two seasons, when CSU travels to North Georgia on Saturday.

Montevallo shot an impressive 50 percent in the opening frame, but led only briefly at the start of the game. The Falcons' shooting, however, kept them within striking distance of CSU. Carrie Parrot went 4-4 from the floor in the frame as CSU tried to pull away. The Lady Cougars used a 7-0 spurt to build their biggest lead of the half with Ashley Stafford's jumper making it 30-18 with 6:54 left. Montevallo cut the lead back to six and CSU ended the half with a 37-28 lead.

CSU turned up the defense in the second half and used some solid shooting of its own to finally wear down the Falcons. UM cut the lead to five pointson three occasions in the first 12 minutes of the half, but the Lady Cougars put together a 12-2 run to take control of the contest. Leading 50-45 with 8:27 left, Smith (layup) and Renee Jackson (three-pointer) got the offense off and running. Stafford capped the run with a jumper to make it 62-47 with 2:31 left.

The Falcons did not have any more runs left after that and CSU took its largest lead of the game with 1:19 left on another Smith layup to make it 67-51. Tiaren Young scored the final bucket for UM with 29 seconds left.

Kelsie Weynand had another solid game off the bench to join Smith in double figures as she scored 11 points. The freshman hit four of eight shots overall and went 3-7 from three-point range. Stafford had a solid shooting game off the bench, going 3-3 from the floor and 3-6 from the line to finish with nine points. She also had five rebounds, as did Lauren Ringfield. CSU held a 38-32 advantage on the glass. The Lady Cougars shot 52 percent in the second half to finish at 46 percent overall.

Parrott led Montevallo with 12 points, while Young added nine. Manal Cali grabbed six rebounds to lead the Falcons.

CSU returns to action Saturday at North Georgia in Dahlonega. Tip-off is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.