Columbus State Lady Cougars rally to win Peach Belt Conference championship

MORROW, Ga. -- The Columbus State Lady Cougars rallied from a 14-point deficit to win their second straight Peach Belt Conference championship with a 68-59 victory over Clayton State on Wednesday night.

It is the Lady Cougars' sixth PBC title overall.

CSU, which won its ninth straight game, finished the regular season at 22-4 and 16-3 in the conference. They finished with the same conference record as Lander.

Since the Peach Belt does not break ties to settle regular-season titles, the two are declared co-champions. For the record, CSU would won the tiebreaker by virtue of its 78-74 victory over Lander in mid-January.

"I am really proud of them," CSU coach Jonathan Norton said. "This has been an interesting year. This team had a lot to overcome this year, had a lot to overcome in this game.

"What an effort -- back-to-back sounds good."

Clayton State led by as many as 14 points over Columbus State, which committed 10 turnovers in a miserable first quarter.

The Lady Cougars, who also won the Western Division title with the victory, managed to cut the deficit to 11, 25-14, by the end of the first 10 minutes.

CSU held Clayton State to just eight points in the second quarter and 34 in the final three quarters combined.

"It started on the defensive end," Norton said. "We settled down."

Michelle Mitchell scored 19 points in the first half and brought CSU to within two, 33-31, at the intermission. Clayton State did not score for the first 5:57 of the second quarter as CSU scored the first seven points of the quarter.

"Clayton State does not allow you to run your offense the way you want to," Norton said. "Luckily, we have the best player of the league (Mitchell), who can make a play on her own."

Clayton State held a 3-point lead, 42-39, with 4:49 left in the third quarter. CSU's Ashley Asouzu made a pair of free throws and Gabby Williams hit a shot to give CSU a 43-42 lead with 3:09 remaining.

The Lady Cougars would not trail again.

Asouzu made a layup with 6:58 left for seven-point lead, 53-46. That would be the biggest lead until CSU scored the final six points of the game to win by nine.

Mitchell finished with 25 points with Asouzu adding 16 and Britteny Tatum 12. Williams had eight points and seven steals. Asouzu finished with a double-double as she grabbed 11 rebounds.

Notes: CSU will host the No. 4 seed from the Eastern Division on Sunday at 2 p.m. in the first round of the PBC tournament. CSU has won the last two PBC tournament titles. CSU is playing its game against Flagler on Sunday since the Lumpkin Center is the site for high school basketball state playoff games on Saturday. CSU played Wednesday was without Eryn Cochran, who was suffering from the flu. The loss was Clayton State's first loss at home this season. Clayton State will host Francis Marion on Saturday.

COLUMBUS STATE (22-5, 16-3 PBC)

Michelle Mitchell 9-14 6-8 25; Ashley Asouzu 7-12 2-2 16; Britteny Tatum 5-15 2-2 12; Gabby Williams 4-12 0-0 8; Ashley Johnson 0-1 4-4 4; Brea Walker 1-3 0-0 3; Alexys Woods 0-0 0-0 0; Erin Morrow 0-2 0-0 0; Tatiana Wayne 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-60 14-16 68.

CLAYTON STATE (21-6, 15-4 PBC)

Jones-Barrett,Kenish 7-14 0-0 17; Hawkins,Tweety 5-11 0-0 13; Upshaw,Shay 3-5 2-5 8; Johnson,Tierra 3-5 0-1 6; Covington,Jessica 2-5 0-0 5; Benford,Andrea 2-4 0-0 4; Moore,DaQuenna 1-8 1-4 3; Pryce,Kayla 1-4 0-0 3; Udofia,Aniefok 0-0 0-0 0; Dennard,Dejoun 0-1 0-0 0; Hynes,Alexus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-57 3-10 59.Columbus State 14 17 16 21--68

Clayton State 25 8 10 16--593-point goals--Columbus State 2-10 (Michelle Mitchell 1-1; Brea Walker 1-2; Britteny Tatum 0-4; Gabby Williams 0-1; Erin Morrow 0-2), Clayton State 8-15 (Hawkins,Tweety 3-6; Jones-Barrett,Kenish 3-5; Covington,Jessica 1-2; Pryce,Kayla 1-1; Benford,Andrea 0-1). Fouled out--Columbus State-None, Clayton State-None. Rebounds--Columbus State 49 (Ashley Asouzu 11), Clayton State 23 (Moore,DaQuenna 10). Assists--Columbus State 8 (Michelle Mitchell 3), Clayton State 11 (Pryce,Kayla 2; Jones-Barrett,Kenish 2; Hawkins,Tweety 2). Total fouls--Columbus State 11, Clayton State 17. Technical fouls--Columbus State-None, Clayton State-None. A-236

This story was originally published February 24, 2016 at 8:08 PM with the headline "Columbus State Lady Cougars rally to win Peach Belt Conference championship ."