GREENWOOD - The seventh-seeded Tusculum Lady Pioneers outscored top seed Lander 62-39 over the last 32 minutes of the game and won the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional championship, 70-63, over the Lady Bearcats Monday night in front of a packed house at Finis Horne Arena.
After Lander hit its first eight shots from the floor and built a 24-8 lead, Tusculum stormed back behind Regional Most Valuable Player Jasmine Gunn's 30 points.
Tusculum (23-9) now has a nine-game winning streak and advances to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight to be played March 23-26 at the St. Joseph Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo, where it will meet undefeated Atlantic Regional champion Gannon University in a national quarterfinal game March 23.
Gannon (36-0) defeated Millersville for the Atlantic title and has the nation's second-longest NCAA winning streak behind Division I powerhouse Connecticut.
Lander saw its best season in school history come to an end with a 27-4 record, including the school's first-ever Sweet 16 appearance, its highest national ranking ever at No. 7 (they are currently No. 11) and a school-record 14-game winning streak.
Gunn, who scored 96 points in the Regional including 45 points in a semifinal victory over Francis Marion on Saturday, made 11 of 20 shots from the floor Monday and eight of eight free throws as Tusculum swept three higher seeded Peach Belt Conference teams Clayton State, Francis Marion and Lander, handing the Lady Bearcats their only home loss of the season.
The Lady Pioneers and Lander have met in each of the last three tournaments with Tusculum winning the last two, including last year's first-rounder.
Sophomore forward Staci Hicks added 11 points for the Lady Pioneers, while the team's only senior Kat Spears scored 10 points. Six-foot-eight center Catherine Hintz added six points and a team-high eight rebounds, while freshman guard Kendal Baxter added three crucial 3-pointers for nine points. Gunn, a 4-foot-11 junior guard, also had six assists and three steals.
Lander, with a roster of four juniors and eight sophomores, was led by junior forward Shannon McKever's 15 points and junior guard Tasheba Butler's double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds). Sophomore guards Brittni Johnson and Nardia Robbins led the Lady Bearcats with five assists apiece.
Joining Gunn on the All-Tournament team were Hintz, McKever, Butler and Francis Marion's Nicole Mealing.
Tusculum had a big shooting edge, making 52 percent of its shots to only 38 percent for Lander.
The Lady Bearcats jumped on top early with a dominant inside game. McKever opened the scoring with a wide-open layup off a pass from Butler on Lander's second possession of the game. And after Gunn spun a layup to tie the score at 2, the Lady Bearcats went on a 12-2 run.
McKever hit a reverse layup off a long pass from Johnson to get the streak started, Ciara Lyons made a layup off Jasmine Judge's back-court steal, Butler scored twice inside on a short jumper and open layup, McKever hit two foul shots, and then Kaylyn Small came off the bench and got into the act with a reverse layup for a 14-4 lead at the 15:44 mark.
That opened up Lander's outside game with Mukia Myrick and Brianna Webb each hitting 3-pointers, making it 20-8 with 14:20 to go as the Lady Bearcats were 8-for-8 from the floor at that point. Another post reserve, Keondra Barnes, came in and scored twice in the paint including an offensive rebound put-back for a 24-8 advantage with 12:27 left, giving Lander 10 made shots in 13 attempts (77 percent).
But Gunn got her game going with a driving layup to finally get Tusculum into double figures at 24-10 and added an assist inside to Hicks before Hintz made her presence felt with two close-up baskets to pull the Lady Pioneers within 26-16 at the 10-minute mark. Lyons made two free throws for the Bearcats to end Tusculum's 8-2 run, making it 28-16 with 9:15 left.
After Webb hit a jumper as the shot clock was winding down to give Lander a 30-20 lead with 6:25 to go, the Pioneers went on a big run to pull within a possession. Hicks got the run started with a jumper from inside the top of the key, Brittni Oliver hit a 3-pointer from the left corner after a steal by Baxter, and Gunn got a steal near the top of the key and drove down for a layup to pull Tusculum within 30-27 with 5:15 left.
Myrick's base-line drive for a layup ended the Pioneers' 7-0 run, but Gunn answered with two free throws to pull Tusculum back within a possession again at 32-29 with 4:29 remaining.
But both teams went suddenly cold with a series of turnovers and missed shots.
After five scoreless possessions by each team inlcuding a combined 10 missed shots in a row, Lander finally got on the board when Small took a pass from Johnson and made a layup to give the Lady Bearcats a 34-29 advantage with 45 seconds left in the half. But Gunn got a steal and hit Spears in stride with a long pass that she converted into a layup that pulled Tusculum within 34-31 with 17 seconds left, and that would be the score at halftime.
The Pioneers got back into the game with a 23-10 run over the last 11-plus minutes of the first half. After Lander hit its first eight shots in the first six minutes of the game, the Lady Bearcats were only 6-for-21 the rest of the half.
Gunn swished a jumper from near the free throw line in the first minute of the second half to cut Tusculum's deficit to one before McKever hit one of two free throws to put Lander back up by two. After a Pioneers turnover, McKever passed back outside to Judge for an open 3 to give the Lady Bearcats a 38-33 lead.
But Tusculum refused to let Lander build on that lead. Hicks hit a baseline jumper and two free throws on consecutive possessions to pull the Lady Pioneers within one, and Baxter gave Tusculum its first lead of the game with a 3-pointer from the right side for a 40-38 advantage at the 17:09 mark. Gunn, who got the assist on Baxter's trey, then drove to the basket and scored to make it 42-38 to complete a 9-0 run.
Now, Lander was doing the chasing on the scoreboard and McKever's weak-side put-back pulled the Lady Bearcats within 42-40. But Lander failed on its next three possessions to tie or regain the lead. Baxter made Lander pay with a long 3-pointer to give Tusculum its biggest lead of the game at 45-40.
The Lady Bearcats answered the challenge this time with Robbins hitting a 3-pointer from the left corner and after Small got a steal in the Tusculum paint, Webb hit a trey to put Lander back on top, 46-45, with 13:19 to go.
Myrick's free throw put the Lady Bearcats up by two, but Gunn drove around several Lander defenders to tie the game at 47-all with 10:44 left.
Spears hit a mid-range jumper and a basket in the paint to put the Lady Pioneers back on top, 51-47, and the visitors from Greeneville, Tenn., would not trail again. After McKever scored for Lander, Spears made another shot in the paint to keep Tusculum up by four, 53-49, with 8:42 to go. Gunn's jumper gave the Lady Pioneers their largest lead of the game at six points, 53-47, before McKever scored twice inside to cut Lander's deficit back to two.
Gunn spun around a defender to give Tusculum a 57-53 lead, but Lander tied the game on Butler's jumper in the paint and Johnson's driving layup to make it 57-all with 5:02 remaining.
Gunn's free throws put the Lady Pioneers back on top for good, 59-57, with 4:41 to go and Baxter hit a long, arcing NBA range 3 to extend Tusculum's lead to 62-57 with 3:16 remaining.
And after Butler hit a jumper, Gunn drove inside, was fouled and hit two free throws to make it 64-59 with 2:19 left. Butler scored another basket in the paint to pull Lander within three with 1:57 remaining, but Gunn came through for Tusculum again, splitting two defenders for another layup and a 66-61 advantage with 1:40 left.
After a long Lady Bearcats possession including a pair of missed shots took 45 seconds off the clock, Myrick was fouled on an offensive rebound and hit two free throws to pull Lander back within a possession again at 66-63 with 57 seconds left.
But Oliver got loose under the basket on an inbounds play for the sidelines, was fouled, and hit a free throw for a 67-63 lead. Lander missed three shots in a row and was then called for an offensive foul, all but sealing its fate.
Hicks hit one of two free throws and after Judge's 3-point shot rimmed out, Gunn hit two free throws with 1.8 seconds left for the game's final points to set off a wild celebration on the bench and in the stands behind the Tusculum players.
For the game, Lander hit 25 of 66 shots from the floor (38 percent), eight of 14 free throws (57 percent), and five of 22 from 3-point range (23 percent).
Tusculum made 26 of 50 shots (52 percent), 14 of 16 free throws (88 percent), and four of nine from behind the arc (44 percent).
Lander had a 40-29 rebounding edge.
