HICKORY, N.C. - The Lander women's basketball team could not overcome cold shooting, rebounding struggles, and having its best post player in foul trouble, falling to No. 16 ranked Tusculum, 87-70, in the first round of the NCAA Southeast Regional Friday afternoon.
The seventh-seeded Lady Bearcats finished the season 20-11 after winning their second consecutive Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship on Sunday with a roster of nine freshmen, four sophomores, and no juniors or seniors.
The No. 2 seeded Pioneers never trailed in the game and improved to 26-5, advancing to the Southeast Regional quarterfinal Saturday against Clayton State, also to be played at Shuford Gym on the campus of Lenoir-Rhyne College. Tusculum avenged a loss to Lander in last year's Southeast Regional.
Shannon McKever led the Lady Bearcats with 16 points in only 21 minutes of action, with all the points coming in the second half, because she sat almost the entire first half with foul trouble.
TaSheba Butler added 14 points for Lander, Mukia Myrick scored 12, and Ciara Lyons 10. Kaylyn Small led the Lady Bearcats with seven rebounds.
The Pioneers had two players who posted double-doubles, including Stephany Neptune with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Kat Spears with 15 points and 10 boards.
All Southeast Region point guard Jasmine Gunn led Tusculum with 19 points, six assists and six rebounds. Shantae Shank added 13 points and Nikki Van Dine 12 points as the Pioneers had five players score in double figures. Neptune also had seven assists in the game.
The Lady Bearcats struggled shooting from the floor, making 25 of 73 shots (34 percent) overall and only four of 20 from 3-point range (20 percent). But Lander did make 16-of-17 free throws (91 percent). The Lady Bearcats were outrebounded 49-34.
Tusculum hit 32 of 63 shots (51 percent), five of 13 from behind the arc (39 percent) and 18 of 24 free throws (75 percent).
Lander got off to a rough start as McKever was sent to the bench with her second foul just two minutes into the game, and the Lady Bearcats fell behind 9-4 with Gunn and Spears each scoring twice.
But Lyons hit two free throws and Nardia Robbins swished a 3-pointer to tie the game at 9. The score was knotted at 11 when Van Dine's 3-pointer put the Pioneers back on top, 14-11. As it turned out, they would lead the rest of the game.
The Lady Bearcats were only 5-for-18 from the floor and again fell behind by five, 18-13, until Lyons scored on a put-back to close the gap to three near the midway point of the first half. That was as close as it would get. Spears rebounded Gunn's air ball and scored to push Tusculum's lead back to five, 20-15, with 9:17 to go.
The Pioneers took their largest lead of the game when the 6-foot-8 Catherine Hintz made a layup for a 25-19 advantage with 6:40 to go. Spears scored off a pass from Gunn to push the lead to eight at the 5:40 mark as Lander was only 8-for-28 (29 percent) from the floor and 1-for-9 from behind the arc (11 percent) at that point.
Robbins and Lyons hit jumpers on consecutive possessions to pull the Lady Bearcats within 28-23. But Tusculum began to pull away again, taking its largest lead at nine, 34-25, when Spears scored and extended the margin to 11 on Gunn's bucket. Brianna Webb ended a streak of six consecutive Lander misses with a basket for a 36-27 deficit. But Shank closed the half with a pair of free throws to give the Pioneers a 38-27 lead at the break.
The Lady Bearcats were 11-for-39 overall (28 percent) and 1-for-11 from behind the 3-point line (9 percent) in the first half while getting outrebounded 30-19 with McKever on the bench for 18 of the 20 minutes. They missed eight of the last nine shots. Spears nearly had her double-double in the first half with 11 points and nine rebounds while Gunn also had nine points. Lyons led Lander with eight points.
Things got worse to start the second half after the teams traded baskets. Van Dine hit a 3-pointer and Spears scored on a layup off Van Dine's blocked shot to give the Pioneers a 45-29 lead. The lead grew to 18 when Ashli Oliver hit a 3-pointer, making it 48-31 at the 18:42 mark.
The Lady Bearcats began showing some life with eight unanswered points inside as McKever scored on consecutive trips, and Butler and McKever made two free throws apiece to pull Lander within 48-39 with 16:28 to go. But that would be Lander's last serious rally as Van Dine answered with a 3-pointer, Neptune added two free throws, and Van Dine hit another three to push Tusculum's lead back to 15 at 56-41 at the 14:46 mark.
The Lady Bearcats finally got their second 3-pointer of the game (out of 13 attempts) on Myrick's long shot that pulled them within 58-46. Lander still trailed by 12, 62-50, when Myrick hit two free throws to make the team 12-for-12 from the stripe with 10:48 remaining.
But Tusculum put the game away with seven unanswered points on a free throw by Shank, and baskets by Neptune, Spears and Shank for its largest lead of the game at 19 points, 69-50, with 8:34 to go. Shank hit two free throws to give the Pioneers their first 20-point lead of the game at 73-53 with 6:16 to go.
The teams traded baskets the rest of the way with McKever and Gunn each getting hot down the stretch. McKever scored Lander's final seven points on three baskets and one free throw.
