Augustus' Huge Night Not Enough For Lady Mustangs Against Cougars

Erik Holth, CBC Sports Information Director

            Columbia, Mo. – Following a win in Monday night's American Midwest Conference tournament first round game, Central Baptist College women's basketball was at the Southwell Complex tonight for an AMC tournament quarterfinal against the Cougars of Columbia College. CBC (15-16) took CC (24-6) to overtime before falling 96-83 to see their season end at the hands of the Cougars for the fourth time in five seasons.

            Alexis Augustus had a career night, finishing with 34 points and 11 rebounds, giving her a career-high in points and tying her career-high for rebounds while posting her fourth double-double of the season. Aminata Seck also finished in double figures with 20 and Macey Decker wrapped up her Mustangs career by tying a career-high with 14 points. Three-point shooting was the difference in the contest, as Columbia sank 13 triples compared to just three for CBC.

GAME FLOW

           The two teams traded the lead nine times and saw four lead changes with most of those coming in the first quarter. CBC led 1-0 before the game even tipped off because Columbia was assessed a technical foul for their shot clock not working in the building. The teams would go back-and-forth for the first 3:02 of the quarter before CBC went on an 8-0 run over the next 2:49 to take a 16-8 lead early. CC would storm back, however, finishing the half on a 12-5 run, giving CBC a 21-20 lead after a quarter. CC took the lead with 23 seconds gone in the second quarter and led by as many as six in the quarter before the Lady Mustangs fought back and eventually retook the lead thanks to a Lydia York three to make it 33-31 with 3:19 left in the first half. The Cougars would retake the lead on the ensuing possession and they closed the half on a 13-2 run to give CBC a 44-35 deficit headed to the locker room. The Lady Mustangs would see the deficit balloon to 14 in the third quarter, but they fought back, cutting the deficit to 63-55 headed to the fourth. The fourth quarter was carried by Decker, Seck and Augustus, who combined to score 18 of the team's 21 points. CC held the lead for most of the fourth quarter, staving off a CBC comeback by not allowing the Lady Mustangs to get the deficit below three. The break for CBC came with 1:43 left when Augustus made a jumper to make it 76-73. Following turnovers for both teams, Columbia would foul Diana Rivera with 34 seconds left and she would split a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to 76-74. Eight seconds later, Decker would pick the pocket of Columbia's Abby Backes and score a layup on the fast break to tie the game at 76 and set up some final second drama. CC would miss a layup at the buzzer and the contest headed to overtime, just the second overtime game for CBC this season. The Lady Mustangs took a 78-76 lead 26 seconds into overtime on a pair of free throws by Seck, but the second-seeded Cougars fought back and went on a 9-0 run, holding CBC without a field goal until the 1:56 mark in overtime. An old fashioned three-point play from Augustus at that point would make it 85-81 CC and that's as close as CBC would get as the Cougars closed on an 11-2 run to salt the game away and end the season for CBC.

GAME NOTES

• The loss puts CBC's record to 1-15 all-time against Columbia
• CBC dropped to 0-2 in overtime this season and 3-5 all-time in extra periods
• The Lady Mustangs also fell to 2-11 when trailing at halftime this season
• Augustus' 34 points was the third-highest single-game total in program history and her 15 made field goals tied Izzy Arnold for the most made field goals in a game
• Augustus finishes her career with 909 points (fourth all-time), an average of 13.2 points per game (second-highest amongst players that played more than one season), 375 made field goals (second all-time), 820 field goal attempts (second all-time), 1,957 minutes played (sixth all-time), 28.4 minutes per game (second all-time for players with >one season), 152 made free throws (sixth all-time), 252 free throw attempts (seventh all-time), 165 offensive rebounds (second all-time), 381 total rebounds (seventh all-time), 121 assists, 40 blocked shots (seventh all-time) and 108 steals (sixth all-time)
• Seck finishes the season with records in points (440), made field goals (178), attempted field goals (411), offensive rebounds (111), defensive rebounds (191), total rebounds (302) and rebounds per game (10.4) while also ranking seventh in single-season made free throws (78) and fourth in single-season blocked shots (36)
• The team finished with the fourth most made field goals in a single season (695) and also posted the 10^th highest field goal percentage (.361), while also finishing with the seventh most made threes (153), seventh in free throw percentage (.668), second in total rebounds (1,227) and second in rebounds per game (42.3), third in assists (372), fifth in assists per game (12.8), third in total blocks (89), third in blocks per game (3.1), fifth in total steals (295), sixth in steals per game (10.2), fourth in total points (1,871), sixth in points per game (64.3), sixth in points allowed (1,792) and fourth in points allowed per game (61.8) while finishing with at least 15 wins for the third time in the last four seasons

Congratulations to women's basketball on a fantastic season!