MONTEVALLO, Ala. - The No. 21-ranked Lander women's basketball held off the University of Montevallo in the final minutes Saturday afternoon to defeat the Lady Falcons, 60-58, in a Peach Belt Conference contest at BankTrust Arena.
Lander improves to 9-1 overall and 2-0 in the PBC, while Montevallo drops to 7-4, 0-1. Lander will host Georgia College & State University at 5:30 p.m. Monday in a PBC contest.
Tasheba Butler led Lander with 14 points and eight rebounds, while Shannon McKever had 13 points and six rebounds.
For Montevallo, Alicia Lewis had 14 points, Shan Jones 11 points and eight rebounds, and Carrie Parrott seven points and a game-high 10 rebounds.
Lander jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game on a pair of Butler jumpers and a field goal and free throw by Ciara Lyons. The Lady Bearcats extended the lead to 16-4 on a Nardia Robbins three pointer at 13:53, only to have Montevallo come back and trim the margin to 16-10 on a pair of Tiaren Young field goals.
Montevallo closed the gap to 20-19 on a field goal by Alex Sanabria layup with 10:04 left in the half, but Lander made a 5-0 run to go back up 24-19.
Lander made it a 10-point game at the 4:23 mark at 31-21 on a Kami Philllips three pointer and stretched the margin to 37-23 on McKever's free throw at 2:06.
LU grabbed its biggest lead of the game with 18:44 left in the game when Brittni Johnson's layup gave Lander a 41-26 advantage.
Carrie Parrott's layup with 16:06 left cut Lander's lead to 43-34 and the Lady Falcons tied the game at 47-47 at 10:26 on Shan Jones' laypup. After the Lady Falcons took a 49-47 lead at 8:09 on Sanabria's jumper, Lander tied the game at 49-49 on Butler's putback at 7:37 and went ahead for good on Jasmine Judge's layup at 7:12.
The Lady Bearcats, who led 37-26 at halftime, connected on 26-of-73 field goals for 35.6 percent, including 3-of-12 three pointers. Lander made 5-of-13 free throws for 38.5 percent.
Montevallo was 23-of-63 floor shots for 36.5 percent, including 6-of-17 threes for 35.3 percent. The Lady Falcons made 6-of-10 foul shots for 60 percent.
Lander outrebounded Montevallo, 51-42, including 24 on the offensive end.
