MORROW, Ga. – Mukia Myrick scored 22 points, helping the Lander women's basketball team rally from an early 12-point deficit to defeat Stillman College 70-55 Tuesday afternoon at the Heritage Bank Holiday Classic at Clayton State University.
The Lady Bearcats, who beat Talladega College on Monday afternoon, won both their games in the tournament to improve to 6-2 on the season. Lander has finished its non-conference schedule and begins Peach Belt Conference play Saturday at Columbus College.
Stillman, a Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference school out of Tuscaloosa, Ala., fell to 2-4.
Myrick also scored 20 points on Monday and finished the two-day tournament with 42 points.
After trailing 27-15 midway through the first half, Lander outscored the Tigers 55-28 the rest of the way. The Lady Bearcats finished the game with 23 offensive rebounds.
Shannon McKever added 15 points for the Lady Bearcats while TaSheba Butler scored all 12 of her points in the second half. McKever added a team-high nine rebounds and two blocked shots. Nardia Robbins led Lander with five assists while Brittni Johnson added nine points and four assists.
Phyllice Eubanks led the Tigers with 16 points, but had only five points in the second half. Jasmon Hazley and Tiffany McGhee scored 15 points apiece for Stillman. Jamila McKinnis added nine points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Stillman hit 10 of its first 14 shots of the game, building a 24-13 lead over the first 10-plus minutes with Eubanks scoring 11 of those points on 5-for-5 shooting. Hazley gave the Tigers their biggest lead, 27-15, with a 3-pointer with 7:11 left.
But Lander closed the gap quickly with Myrick's 3-pointer from the corner pulling the Lady Bearcats within 27-20 at the 6:05 mark. Myrick's three was Lander's first in nine attempts from behind the arc.
After the Lady Bearcats missed three more 3-point tries, Myrick hit a 3-pointer to pull Lander within 29-24 with three minutes to go. After two Lander offensive rebounds, Myrick hit her third 3-pointer of the half to cut the deficit to 29-27.
After two more offensive rebounds, Brianna Webb converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Lady Bearcats a 30-29 lead with 31 seconds left, their first lead since it was 7-5. Lander took the one-point lead into the break, having outscored Stillman 15-2 over the final nine-plus minutes of the first half. The Tigers missed eight of their last nine shots of the half.
The Lady Bearcats continued their momentum into the second half, using an 11-4 run to take a 41-33 lead with 15:19 left in the game. Butler scored a transition basket off a pass from Robbins, giving Lander its first double-digit lead at 45-35.
But the Tigers wouldn't go away quietly, scoring six unanswered points, including four free throws, to pull within 45-41 with 10:29 to go. Stillman hovered around with its four-point deficits at 47-43 and 49-45 before Lander went on a run. Johnson's jumper and Myrick's 3-pointer extended the Lady Bearcat lead to 54-45 with 7:16 left.
Butler's two free throws gave Lander its biggest lead of the game at 56-45. Myrick's final 3-pointer of the afternoon extended the Lady Bearcat advantage to 12 points, 61-49, with 4:18 to go. McKever's basket upped the lead to 14, and Stillman didn't threaten the rest of the way.
Lander made 27 of 71 shots from the floor (38 percent), 11 of 13 free throws (85 percent), and five of 23 from behind the three-point line (22 percent). The Tigers hit 20 of 48 shots (42 percent), 11 of 16 free throws (69 percent), and four of 11 from behind the arc (36 percent). The Lady Bearcats had a 43-33 edge on the boards and forced 25 Stillman turnovers.
