GREENWOOD – Lander's penchant for scoring a bunch of unanswered points in a hurry with its overwhelming full-court press was alive and well Saturday afternoon with one of the team's more impressive such runs in recent memory.

The Lady Bearcats forced seven turnovers during a 25-0 first-half run and placed six players in double figures, staying unbeaten in the Peach Belt Conference with an 83-56 victory over Columbus State at Horne Arena. Lander forced 32 turnovers in the game, totaling 22 steals.

The Lady Bearcats earned their seventh consecutive win, improving to 13-3 overall and 8-0 in the PBC. The Cougars fell to 9-7, 4-3.

Ciara Lyons led Lander with 19 points, Brittni Johnson had 15 points, six steals and six assists, Jasmine Judge scored 12 points, and Mukia Myrick, Kaylyn Small and Janyce Ealey scored 10 points apiece.

Small led the Lady Bearcats with seven rebounds, Ealey had five steals, Myrick five assists, and Judge four steals.

Shan Basley paced Columbus with 19 points, Dominique Gilbert led the Cougars with a game-high 12 rebounds and four blocked shots, and Letiecia Davenport added eight points and seven boards.

The Lady Bearcats made 32 of 68 shots from the floor (47 percent), six of 11 free throws (55 percent), and 13 of 31 from 3-point range (42 percent).

Columbus hit 23 of 53 floor shots (43 percent), four of nine free throws (44 percent), and six of 14 from behind the arc (43 percent). The Lady Cougars had a 41-30 edge on the boards.

The full-court press triggered the 25 unanswered points that turned Lander's 5-2 deficit into a 27-5 lead. Lyons had three steals during the run, Johnson had two steals, while Judge and Myrick had one steal apiece. Small ended another Columbus possession with a blocked shot.

After Basley's 3-pointer gave the Cougars a 5-2 lead two minutes into the game, Lander responded with Johnson's game-tying 3 off a Lyons steal, and that was just the beginning of the remarkable run.

Lyons scored on a fast-break to give the Lady Bearcats the lead for good at 7-5, Johnson hit a 3, Lyons made a pair of free throws, Johnson swished another 3 as she was falling to the floor, Small hit a tough put-back, Lyons scored another fast-break layup, Judge made a 3, then stole the ball near midcourt and fed Lyons for yet another layup.

Myrick hit a 3-pointer to make it 27-5, giving Lander 25 unanswered points in only four minutes and four seconds.

Columbus's Davenport made a layup off an offensive rebound at the 13:32 mark to end the run.

Lander's run grew to 29-2 after Lyons passed inside to Small for a layup, and Johnson's steal led to another basket by Lyons, making it 31-7 at the 12:40 mark. Lauren Grisham's 3-pointer finally got the Cougars into double figures in points at 31-10 with 12:08 to go.

Small scored with 9:24 left, giving the Lady Bearcats a 35-13 lead. It didn't matter much that Lander went four-plus minutes without scoring again because Columbus scored only three points during that stretch.

Johnson's 3 ended the Lady Bearcat scoring drought at the 4:55 mark, Myrick answered Chatil Bradford's basket with another trey, and Ealey made a jumper giving Lander its largest lead of the first half at 25 points, 43-18, with 2:44 left.

The Cougars finally put together a small run of seven unanswered points on Gilbert's bucket in the paint, Baleigh Coley's 3, and Asha Alexander's fast-break basket. But they would still trail 45-27 at halftime.

Columbus made things interesting by scoring the first six points of the second half, pulling within 12 points, 45-33, at the 18:07 mark on Davenport's two free throws.

But Lander quickly extended the lead back to 23 points with an 11-0 run, including Judge's 3, Ealey's short jumper in the paint, a Johnson trey, and another Judge 3 to make it 56-33 at the 16-minute mark.

After the Cougars pulled within 19, Myrick made her third 3 of the game, and Lyons nailed a long jumper to push Lander's lead to 65-41 inside the 11-minute mark.

Johnson's 3 with 6:39 left kept the Lady Bearcats comfortably ahead, 70-48.

Precious Elkins and Ashley Watts scored Lander's final seven points over the last minute and 19 seconds.