GREENWOOD – Ciara Lyons scored 15 points and Tasheba Butler posted a double-double, leading 15th-ranked Lander to a 74-49 Peach Belt Conference victory over UNC Pembroke Wednesday night at Horne Arena. The Lady Bearcats remained undefeated in the PBC.
Butler had 11 points and 11 rebounds to help Lander improve to 13-1 overall and 6-0 in the conference. The Braves fell to 7-7, 1-4.
Pembroke had no double-figure scorers as Illya Hunt led the visitors with nine points. JaToya Kemp and DeDe Cotten led the Braves with seven rebounds apiece while Chevoya Jackson added five assists.
Brittni Johnson had nine points, four assists and three steals for the Lady Bearcats. Jasmine Judge had nine points, all on first half 3-pointers, and Shannon McKever blocked three shots.
Lander raced to leads of 7-0 and 11-2, starting with Judge’s 3-pointer and ending with Lyons making a layup off Johnson’s steal and long pass. The Braves pulled within four points, 11-7, on Cotten’s 3-pointer at the 15-minute mark and stayed within no more than five points for a few more minutes.
Kemp’s layup pulled Pembroke within 21-16. But the Lady Bearcats closed the half with a 23-4 run over the final eight minutes for a 44-20 halftime lead.
Highlights of the run included two 3-pointers by Judge, one by Kami Phillips, and Johnson’s long 3 just before the halftime buzzer.
The halftime discrepancy was evident not only on the scoreboard, but in shooting percentages. Lander made 16 of 34 shots (47 percent) in the first half while the Braves struggled, making only seven of 31 (23 percent).
The Lady Bearcat lead grew to 30, 52-22, when Johnson made a pair of free throws with 16:48 left. Johnson’s bank shot gave Lander its largest lead of the game at 34 points, 56-22, at the 15:22 mark.
The Lady Bearcat lead didn’t grow over the next several minutes until Butler made a put-back for a 35-point lead, 62-27, with 8:15 left. The Braves didn’t reach the 30-point mark until Hunt scored to make it 63-31 at the seven-minute mark.
Pembroke only got as close as 25 when Anya Knower scored the game’s last basket in the final seconds.
For the game, Lander made 28 of 66 shots from the floor (42 percent), 12 of 18 free throws (67 percent), and six of 23 from 3-point range (26 percent).
Pembroke hit 19 of 64 shots (30 percent), six of 10 free throws (60 percent), and five of 18 from behind the arc (28 percent).
The Lady Bearcats had a 51-39 edge on the boards.
