GREENWOOD – The Lander Lady Bearcats overcame an eight-minute scoring drought to start the second half, closing the game with a 33-12 run to defeat Erskine 76-69 Tuesday night in non-conference action at Horne Arena.

Lander improved to 2-2 overall while the Lady Fleet fell to 1-1.

Shatora Irby, a former Erskine player, led the Lady Bearcats with 22 points while Bryony Crouch scored 17 of her 21 points in the first half. Lashaundra Dubose added 13 points and six assists for Lander.

Melissa Woods led Erskine with 15 points, Anita Owens scored 14 points while Lisa Jackson and Kristy Vaughn added 13 apiece. The Lady Fleet made only six of 21 free throws.

The Lady Bearcats failed to score in the first eight minutes and 18 seconds of the second half. Erskine scored 13 points during that stretch, breaking a halftime tie for a 52-39 lead.

Owens hit her third 3-pointer of the second half to give the Lady Fleet its biggest lead of the game at 57-43 with 10:39 to go. But Shaquanta Glaze answered with a 3-pointer at the opposite end to start Lander's game-ending tear.

Dubose stole an inbounds pass and drove in for a layup to pull the Lady Bearcats within 57-55 before Glaze scored inside to tie the game at 57 with 7:52 to go. Irby converted a three-point play to give Lander its first lead of the second half at 60-57 at the 7:15 mark, capping a 17-0 run.

Erskine's Woods hit a 3-pointer with seven minutes left to tie the game at 60. But the Lady Bearcats regained the lead for good on Tara Nyikavaranda's basket at the 6:36 mark.

With just under two minutes to go, Lander's fast-break offense took a break and ran the shot clock down. Dubose dribbled the clock down to its final seconds and passed off to Irby, who hit a jumper to give the Lady Bearcats some breathing room at 70-65 with 1:41 to go.

There were six ties and five lead changes in the first half which ended, fittingly, in a 39-39 tie. Crouch scored eight consecutive points on two 3-pointers and a basket, giving the Lady Bearcats a 17-11 lead with 15:24 left.

Erskine did not take its first lead until Chacee Whittington's put-back of a missed free throw, making it 34-32 with 4:01 to go. Crouch's two free throws with 11 seconds left tied it going into the break.

Lander had a good first half of shooting, making 14-of-26 attempts (54 percent) with Crouch and Irby each hitting 4-of-6 from the floor. Crouch also made 6-of-7 free throws, helping the Lady Bearcats hit 7-of-10 to Erskine's 1-of-10 from the stripe in the first half. The Lady Fleet shot 17-of-40 in the first half (43 percent) but created second-chance opportunities with 26 rebounds to Lander's 17.

For the game, Lander made 28-of-53 shots from the floor (53 percent), 14-of-24 from the free-throw line (60 percent), and 6-of-11 from 3-point range (55 percent). Erskine hit 27-of-66 attempts from the floor (41 percent) and 9-of-27 from behind the arc (33 percent). The Lady Fleet had a 47-33 rebounding edge.