COLUMBIA, S.C – The CIU women's basketball team continues to make strides under Coach Danielle Fleming as CIU won their fifth conference game of the season on Thursday night. The Rams strong-armed their way to a 86-70 win over the Kentucky Christian Knights. Notably, five conference wins are the most ever by the CIU women's basketball program. Perhaps most important, graduate student Jordan Sprueill is now the all-time leading scorer in women's basketball history, surpassing Raven Fleming in career points.

How It Happened:

First Half: CIU 36 KCU 31: In what was a wild first half, the Rams were outscored in period number one 24-9. CIU jumped back on top of the Knights as the Rams would then turn around and outscore the Knights 27-7 in the second quarter to take a 36-31 halftime lead. Keniah Watkins was critical to the second quarter's success as the junior guard scored nine points in the quarter. CIU made ten field goals in the second quarter as a team and held the Knights to just 3-15 from the field in the period.

Second Half: CIU 86 KCU 70: The Rams played some of their best 20:00 minutes of basketball as CIU scored 50 points in the second half of the contest. KCU hung tight with the Rams as CIU clung to a 54-49 lead at the end of three quarters. The Rams were able to pull away in the final period shooting well from the field and forcing turnovers. Jordan Sprueill was red hot in the fourth quarter scoring 16 points and going a remarkable 7-8 from the field. Sprueill also pulled down seven rebounds in the quarter to finish a fantastic game for the four-year starter. CIU forced seven turnovers and scored 32 points in the fourth quarter to put away the Knights 86-70.

Game Notes:

• Graduate student Jordan Sprueill scored 26 points and had 12 rebounds. Sprueill is now the leading scorer in CIU history with 1,188 career points. Spruill's 26 points are the second most in her career; the Charleston native had 29 points against Bluefield College in 2018.
•  Keniah Watkins found her scoring rhythm as she put up 23 points and had eight rebounds.
• Queeneka Howard filled the stat sheet recording six points, eight rebounds, two blocks, and two steals.
• The Rams punished the Knights on the offense glass as CIU pulled down 27 offensive rebounds compared to KCU's nine.
•  CIU outrebounded the Knights 54-36 while forcing 24 KCU turnovers.

What Coach, Danielle Fleming is saying:
"We outrebounded them, limited our turnovers, and never gave up when we were down. I am proud of our leadership and the fight in our girls."

Up Next:
CIU will head to Bryan College on Saturday to take on the Lions in Tennessee.