Local Sports Stories
Columbia can’t protect its lead, falls in overtime
By SAM MILES of the Tribune’s staff
Until last night, the Columbia College men’s basketball team had been fairly predictable. When they win, the Cougars often secure an early, comfortable lead and then spend the second half squandering some, but not all of it.

Missed free throws cost Stephens
By JOSH MOSLEY of the Tribune’s staff
With just 7.7 seconds left on the clock, Stephens College freshman Megan Sheffield sat on her team’s bench, head in hands after missing two free throws with her team down three. Though it was still a one possession game, the pressure of the moment had gotten to her to the point that teammates rallied around Sheffield to remind her that the game was far from over.

Cougars stifle Spartans
By SAM MILES of the Tribune’s staff
On paper, the Missouri Baptist Spartans looked like a team capable of derailing the 11th-ranked Columbia College Cougars last night at the Southwell Complex.

State-ranked Harrisburg boys put clamps down to advance to South Callaway final
By the Tribune’s staff
The top-seeded and state-ranked Harrisburg boys basketball team forced North Callaway into 27 turnovers en route to a 65-34 victory last night, easily advancing to the championship game of the South Callaway Invitational.

Lincoln names new football coach
Lincoln University has a new head football coach.

TAKE 2: An alternative look at the day in sports
By PETE BLAND
Sure, we’re deep in the throes of below-zero temperatures, dead batteries and snotcicles, but that doesn’t mean it’s too early to talk baseball.