COLUMBIA, S.C. – CIU women's basketball tipped off on Saturday afternoon against Milligan University (Tenn.) for the second time this season. The teams faced off early in the year, where the Rams fell in overtime. However, CIU flipped the script this afternoon and took down the second-place team in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC), 70-60. The Rams are now 12-12 on the season and 11-9 in conference play.
It was a back-and-forth battle until the 3:24 mark when CIU's offense came alive, scoring 12 points in the final minutes of the first quarter to lead 24-13. The Rams maintained their advantage through the second as they outscored Milligan 20-12, with nine points coming from the hands of
Zhani Thompson, to finish the first half up 44-25.
Milligan began to push back with a dominant 26-4 third period and took the lead at the 0:51 mark in the quarter, which they held onto for the remainder of the period. Both teams were quiet for the first couple minutes of the fourth, but CIU went up by one on a layup from Wilkerson (7:38), which spurred on 18 points in the final seven minutes of the contest, which was too much for the Buffs to handle and after a wild game of runs CIU held on for the ten-point win.
Once again, freshman
Hannah Wilkerson was the leading scorer for the Rams, going 9-of-15 (60%) from the field. The only other Ram in double-digits this afternoon was
Madison Hatcher, who scored 13 points.
Zhani Thompson continues to be impressive off the glass with 12 rebounds, for a total of 192 rebounds on the season to lead the team. Thompson also contributed offensively, knocking down three 3-pointers.
Jaylyn Twitty lit up the stats sheet tonight with one block, two steals, three assists, five points, and seven rebounds. CIU had a season-high field goal percentage this afternoon, going 27-of-56 (48.2%).
What Coach Danielle Fleming is saying: "Great win today at home! We got out to a really good start, and even though the third quarter was tough, our perseverance prevailed in the fourth to give us a much-needed win against one of the top teams in the AAC."
Up Next: CIU hosts Reinhardt University (Ga.) on Tuesday, Feb. 7 at 5:30 PM.
