Lady Bearcats No. 8 in final NCAA rankings

GREENWOOD - The Lander women's basketball team finished the season ranked No. 8 in the USA Today/ESPN Division II Top 25 Coaches Poll which was released Tuesday night.

Lander had one of its most successful seasons in the history of the program as the Lady Bearcats posted a 24-8 record and for the first time advanced to the Elite Eight.

National champion Shaw University (29-6) earned the top ranking and was followed by: 2. Ashland (33-2), 3. Bentley (31-4), 4. Wayne State (32-3), 5. Rollins (28-6), 6. Pittsburg State (27-6), 7. Alaska-Anchorage (30-5), 8. Lander (24-8), 9. Edinboro (30-2), and 10. California-San Diego (30-3).

The next 10 are: 11. Metro State (27-4), 12. USC Aiken (27-4), 13. Clayton State (29-4), 14. Washburn (29-5), 15. Wisconsin-Parkside (24-6), 16. Northeastern State (25-5), 17. Fort Lewis (26-5), 18. Grand Canyon (24-4), 19. Emporia State (23-9), and 20. Wingate (24-8).

Rounding out the poll are: 21. Gannon (22-7), 22. Florida Southern (24-7), 23. Arkansas Tech (22-4), 24. Indiana University of Pennsylvania (23-7) and Southern Connecticut (25-6).

Lady Bearcat Jasmine Judge finished the season ranked No. 2 in the country in three-point field goals made per game with 3.71. Judge ended her career as the Peach Belt Conference's all-time career leader in three-point shots made with 403. She also tied the Lander school record for three pointers in a season with 115.

In final NCAA team statistics, Lander ranked eighth in steals per game, ninth in three-point field goals made per game (8.0), 11th in assists per game (16.9) and 14th in scoring margin (+12.9).