In a potential District 2-5A tournament preview, Columbia came up short in its first test against Rickards with a 55-47 loss at home Saturday afternoon.
The Tigers led 25-24 at halftime but were outscored by 11 in the second half in a physical contest. Ayesha Broxey led CHS with 11 points and seven rebounds, while Zuri Hollie had 10 points and Eriel Baker added nine points with six steals.
The Raiders (4-2) snapped a 4-game winning streak by the Tigers (4-3). But even in a loss, Columbia head coach Anthony Perry said his team played its best game of the season.
“I’m extremely proud of them, we just need to be more aggressive on offense and make sure we get more rebounds on defense,” Perry said. “Rickards is a good team, a very good team, but we showed fight to hang in there with them and we were leading at halftime also. So if we take the fouls back from (Jolena Gardner) and take care of the ball, just a little bit better with less turnovers and make our free throws it’s a different outcome.“
Columbia will try to bounce back on Wednesday in a home matchup against Madison County at 7:30 p.m.