GREENWOOD – Shannon McKever, Stephanie Ponds, LaShonda Chiles and Tiara Good combined for 81 points as the Lander Lady Bearcats rallied for a 92-84 overtime victory over North Georgia College & State University in a Peach Belt Conference game Wednesday night at Horne Arena.
Lander improved to 18-11 overall and 12-7 in the Peach Belt. The Saints fell to 16-11, 9-11. Lander moved within one game of first-place Francis Marion in the PBC standings and are in a five-way tie for second place.
The Lady Bearcats rallied from a 16-point second half deficit, taking the lead with a 26-7 run. Lander fell behind again, 77-72, with three minutes left before rallying again to force overtime.
McKever and Ponds each had double-doubles for the Lady Bearcats. McKever had 25 points and 14 rebounds. Included among McKever's points were two free throws that tied the game with 9.1 seconds left in regulation. Ponds was also a force inside with 20 points and a game-high 16 boards. Chiles added 20 points and Good scored 16. Kianna Smith added seven points, with five coming in overtime.
Kourtney Singletary led North Georgia with 23 points before fouling out late in regulation. Rachael Jolley added 14 points while the Peach Belt's leading scorer Syretha Marble was held to 12 points. Marble led the Saints with nine rebounds while Singletary added eight boards.
With the game tied at 81 going into overtime, Smith scored twice to give Lander an 85-81 lead. Ponds scored inside, giving the Lady Bearcats an 89-84 advantage with 31 seconds left. Good added two technical foul free throws with 15 seconds left to close out the scoring.
The Saints closed the first half on a 24-7 run to build a 40-29 halftime lead. Lander led by as many as six on several occasions early on in the first half, including a Ponds lay-up that made it 22-16 with 12:13 left.
North Georgia started a run of 10 unanswered points when Lindsey Kitchens hit a 3-pointer to tie the game at 25 while Jolley's 3-pointer put the visitors up 32-25. Singleton completed the 24-7 run with two free throws with 33 seconds left until halftime.
The Saints upped their lead to 15 on two occasions early in the second half and extended the advantage to 16, 54-38, on Megan Huffman's 3-pointer at the 16:13 mark. Lander started its 26-7 run with seven unanswered points, pulling within 54-45 when Chiles hit two free throws with 14:39 left.
Ponds scored five unanswered points with a three-point play and two free throws to close the Lady Bearcats within 58-52 with 11:10 left. Krystyn Young's 3-pointer pushed North Georgia back up by nine, 61-52. But Ponds and Smith hit two free throws apiece, closing Lander's gap to 61-56 at the 10:17 mark. Chiles hit a long 3-pointer from the top of the key and added a lay-up to tie the game at 61 with 9:10 left.
The Lady Bearcats took their first lead since the opening half, 62-61, when Ponds hit a free throw with 8:46 left. Chiles stole the in-bounds pass and made a lay-up, giving Lander 11 unanswered points and completing the 26-7 run.
Good scored to give the Lady Bearcats a 70-66 lead with 6:37 to go. But the visitors rallied with nine unanswered points on three baskets by Young and a 3-pointer by Kitchens to regain the lead at 75-70 with 3:14 left.
Trailing 77-72 and forced to rally again, Lander did just on baskets by Ponds and Chiles and McKever's three-point play that tied the game at 79-all with 1:17 to go. Both teams missed shots on their ensuing possessions until the Saints took an 81-79 lead when Huffman banked in a shot with 22 seconds left.
McKever tied the game with 9.1 seconds left when she hit two free throws. North Georgia turned the ball over with 2.4 seconds to go. But Good missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer and the game went into overtime.
For the game, Lander made 32 of 63 shots from the floor (51 percent), 24 of 35 free throws (69 percent), and four of 10 from 3-point range (40 percent). North Georgia hit 27 of 69 shots (39 percent), 22 of 30 free throws (73 percent), and eight of 23 from behind the arc (35 percent). The Lady Bearcats had a 46-40 edge on the boards and committed 28 turnovers to North Georgia's 24.
