COLUMBIA, S.C.— The Montreat women's basketball team wrapped up its current road trip on Wednesday with an Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) contest against the Columbia College Koalas. Behind a prolific third quarter, the Cavaliers came away with a league victory in Columbia, S.C., 82-72. As a result, Montreat's record improved to 11-5 overall and 8-3 in AAC matchups.
 
After a few scoreless minutes to begin the game, Virginia Edmondson broke the ice with a triple and a layup, putting the visitors ahead by five points 2:38 into the showdown. Columbia (13-5, 6-5 AAC) registered its first basket at the 6:19 mark, and it eventually seized a 9-7 lead over the Cavs with less than three minutes remaining in the period. Despite suddenly trailing, Vaniyah Petty, Edmondson and Ayanna Varela teamed up for a 7-0 run across a 60-second span, and a Katie Alexander jumper put Montreat in front, 16-13, through one quarter of play.
 
Varela and Cierra Lail maintained the Cavaliers' three-point advantage (20-17) three minutes into the second frame; however, the Koalas utilized an 8-1 spurt to secure their largest lead of the half, 25-21, midway through the quarter. Rymiah Sanders answered with a personal 6-0 stretch, though, and Edmondson and Lail combined for a trio of free throws to keep the visitors on top entering the intermission, 30-29.
 
For the second time this season, Montreat scored 34 points in a quarter. The initial occasion happened during the opening frame of the Cavs' Nov. 9 triumph over Salem College. The second instance occurred during Wednesday evening's third period. Edmondson and Sanders each poured in nine points, while Varela and Alexander contributed seven and five points, respectively. Montreat outscored its counterpart by 16 points (20-4) across the final three minutes, seizing a 64-46 edge just before the final quarter began.
 
Columbia did its best to make things interesting in the fourth. The hosts were able to slash their deficit down to as little as six points twice late in the frame. Despite their best efforts, the Koalas couldn't overcome the sizable gap before the final buzzer sounded. Edmondson sank a triple, and both she and Varela connected at the free-throw line down the stretch to seal an 82-72 conference win.
 
"It's tough to beat a good team twice, and it wasn't pretty, but I'm proud of these ladies for handling business and pushing through the adversity of the game," said head coach Jamie Moore.
 
The Cavaliers owned the shooting edge in all three departments thanks to a 46.6-percent effort overall (27-58 FG), a 35.0-percent showing from beyond the arc (7-20 3-pt FG) and a 77.8-percent performance at the charity stripe (21-27 FT). On the other side, Montreat held CC to just 36.5 percent shooting overall (27-74 FG) and 17.4 percent from deep (4-23 3-pt FG). The visitors grabbed slightly more rebounds (43-41) and dished out more assists (14-11) than the home side.
 
Edmondson not only led all scorers with 27 points, but she also scored her 1,000^th point as a Cav in the process. Sanders infringed on triple-double territory with 15 points, eight rebounds and a career-best seven assists. Varela also recorded 15 points in the victory.
 
Montreat hosts Reinhardt University on Saturday in its next AAC matchup. Tipoff is slated for 5 p.m. inside Kimmel Arena on the campus of UNC Asheville.