GREENWOOD----The Lander women's basketball team gave No. 24 Clayton State University all it could handle Tuesday night, but the Lady Lakers held on down the stretch for an 89-82 non-conference victory in Horne Arena.
Clayton State remains unbeaten at 3-0, while Lander drops to 2-1. Even though the two teams are both members of the Peach Belt Conference, the game was played as a non-conference contest. The Lander/Clayton State conference game will be played in Morrow, Ga. on Jan. 13.
Marie St. Fort led the Lady Lakers with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Sharon Wiles added 16 points and seven rebounds and Shantel Ragin and Lynette Jackson each had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Wiles also had five assists and five steals, while Jackson had four blocked shots.
LaShonda Chiles led Lander with a game-high 20 points and nine assists, while Tiara Good scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Tierra Kirkland had 12 points and seven rebounds, while Bryony Crouch and Stephanie Ponds each had two blocked shots.
Clayton State, which led 43-40 at halftime, connected on 38 of 80 field goals for 47.5 percent, 4 of 12 threes for 33.3 percent and 9 of 21 free throws for 42.9 percent. Lander made 33 of 79 floor shots (41.8 percent), 7 of 27 three pointers (25.9 percent) and 9 of 12 free throws (75 percent).
The Lady Lakers led in rebounds, 56-40.
Lander grabbed its biggest lead of the game early in the first half when the Lady Bearcats took a 16-10 lead at the 13:53 mark on a April McClendon layup. Clayton State went on a 16-0 run to take a 26-16 lead with 10:25 left in the half. Lander then went on a 22-11 run to take a 38-37 lead with 1:55 left on a Kirkland layup. Jackson, Wiles and Nikkisha Pritchett each made baskets to give Clayton a 43-40 halftime lead.
The Lady Lakers pulled away early in the second half and held leads of 11 (52-41), 10 (72-62) and 11 (74-63) points, before the Lady Bearcats made their final run.
Beginning at the 8:08 mark, Lander went on a 19-9 tear to cut the margin to 83-82 with 1:23 left in the game. Good scored 10 points in the run, which included making a pair of three pointers. But Clayton's Jackson and Brown made back-to-back shots and St. Fort and Ragin both made free throws to provide the final margin.
