AIKEN, S.C. – The fourth-seeded Lander women's basketball team used a pair of free throws from tournament MVP Tiara Good with five seconds remaining Sunday afternoon to escape a furious Armstrong Atlantic comeback and defeat the seventh-seeded Lady Pirates, 68-65, in the Peach Belt Conference tournament championship game at the Convocation Center.
The Bearcats, who improve to 22-11, received the PBC's automatic berth into the NCAA Division II tournament. In next weekend's South Atlantic Regional in Florence, S.C., Lander, the No. 7 seed, will face No. 2-seeded Tusculum College at 8 p.m., Friday, March 14.
AASU finishes the season at 20-11.
Good, the two-time PBC Player of the Year, scored 22 points, while McKever added 13 points and six rebounds, Stephanie Ponds had 12 points and five rebounds and Chiles had 11 points and six rebounds. McKever and Chiles joined Good on the all-tournament team.
The Lady Pirates were led by Kaneetha Gordon's game-high 24 points and 14 rebounds. Lacey Willis chipped in 12 points and five rebounds for AASU.
The Lady Bearcats led 66-55 with 5:04 remaining, but AASU went on a 10-0 run over the next 4:53 and used a pair of free throws by Gordon to cut the lead to 66-65.
In the final seconds AASU was forced to foul Good, who knocked down the final free throws.
The Lady Bearcats jumped out to an early lead on a trio of buckets to open the game for a 6-0 advantage. Chiles, who earlier in the tournament surpassed the NCAA career scoring record of 2,810 points, gave Lander its first double-digit lead of the game with 12:08 remaining on a three pointer to make it 17-6.
The Lady Bearcats took their largest lead of the half at 21-8 with 8:03 remaining on a McKever free throw and cruised into halftime with a 38-30 lead.
Lander connected on 27-of-56 shots for 48.2 percent, including 5-of-12 three pointers for 41.7 percent. The Lady Bearcats were 9-of-11 from the free throw line for 81.8 percent.
AASU made 21-of-54 field goals for 38.9 percent, including 4-of-10 three pointers for 40 percent. The Lady Pirates, who outrebounded Lander, 36-31, also made 19-of-25 free throws for 76 percent.
