Lander Advances to PBC Finals with 93-73 win Over Francis Marion

AIKEN, S.C.-- The Lander Lady Bearcats took one step closer to a Peach Belt Conference Tournament Championship on Saturday as they rolled to a 93-73 victory over top-seeded Francis Marion in the semifinals of the 2008 Peach Belt Conference Tournament at the USC Aiken Convocation Center.

Lander, the fourth seed, will now take on tournament surprise and seventh-seeded Armstrong Atlantic in Sunday’s Peach Belt Conference championship game at 2 p.m. The winner gets the PBC’s automatic bid to the 2008 NCAA Division II Tournament.

This will be Lander’s third trip to the Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship game, and its first since the 2004 season.

The Lady Bearcats (20-11) broke the game open in the first half, breaking a 12-12 tie with a whopping 21-2 run over an eight-minute stretch. Tiara Good and Kianna Smith started the rally with consecutive 3-point baskets. Good later hit her second 3-point basket, and a jump shot in the lane by Stephanie Ponds gave Lander a 33-14 lead with 6:15 remaining.

Lander then took its largest lead of the first half, 48-28 at halftime on a jump shot by LaShonda Chiles with four seconds remaining.

Francis Marion never cut the lead to less than 14 points in the second half. Lander, meanwhile stretched the lead to as much as 27 points in the second half. TaSheba Butler’s lay-up at the 11:36 mark gave the Lady Bearcats a commanding 67-40 lead.

Five different Lady Bearcats reached double-figures in scoring, paced by Smith and Shannon McKever each with 19 points. Ponds recorded a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds, while Chiles scored 15 points and Peach Belt Conference Player of the Year Tiarra Good scored 14 points. For the game, Lander shot 50 percent (33-for-66) from the field and 47 percent from 3-point range.

For Francis Marion (21-8), Creshenda Singletary scored 16 points to pace the Patriots, followed by Brittany Young with 14 points and Ebony Allen with 11 points.

Boxscore

Game 14 – Lander vs. Francis Marion – Quotes

Lander Head Coach Kevin Pedersen:
“When you play Francis Marion, they make you prepare. I’m very proud of the way our players came out. We had a game plan and these players believe in it 100 percent and they came out an executed it. They didn’t get frustrated.”

“A lot of people forgot about us. The message we want to get out to people is that this team has won seven of their last eight games. We feel like we’ve regrouped. As a coaching staff, we recognize that we need to go inside more. We don’t want to do a lot of talking. We’ve got one more game.”

Lander’s Tiara Good:
“If we have to start outside in, that’s what helps us out down the stretch. After I hit those threes, they came out and left our post wide open. And once you give them the ball; the work is easy after that. My job is done.”

“We don’t want to dwell on this one. We’ve got to look forward. Armstrong is a good team with an excellent coach and excellent players.”

Francis Marion Head Coach Heather Macy:
“In the first half we just did not play very good basketball. They have got two exceptional basketball players and that’s what seniors do at tournament time.”

“It just seemed like we didn’t get a bounce. Things that would normally be steals for us became three-pointers at the other end. It just wasn’t our night and you have to give that to Lander, they did an awesome job.”

“I don’t feel in any way that we are declining or have hit a wall. I think that we have young, inexperienced players and this is very new to them. We’re going to get better from it.”