AIKEN - The Lander women's basketball team's bid for a third straight Peach Belt Conference tournament championship ended Saturday afternoon when the No. 9-ranked Lady Bearcats fell to No. 21 Clayton State in overtime, 79-77, in the semifinal round at USC Aiken's Convocation Center.

Lander, the top-ranked team in the Southeast Region, drops to 25-3 overall and expects to receive a berth into the NCAA Division II national tournament when it is announced Sunday night. Clayton State improves to 23-6 and will face the Francis Marion/Georgia College winner at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon.

Mukia Myrick led Lander with 19 points on 6-of-12 shots from the field and 6-of-6 free throws, while dishing off seven assists. Jasmine Judge added 18 points, Shannon McKever 11 and Tasheba Butler 10. Butler led the Lady Bearcats in rebounds with seven and Judge grabbed six.

Clayton State's Teshymia Tillman led all scorers with 20 points, while Tanisha Woodard added 18 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and Genesis Kelly had 10 points. The Lady Lakers' LaDe'Sha Stoudamire grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds, while Woodard had nine.

The Lady Bearcats took a 33-29 halftime lead when Myrick scored a field goal wth 33 seconds remaining and made two free throws with two seconds left.

Lander opened the second half with a 9-4 run to take a 44-35 advantage on a Ciara Lyons free throw with 15:20 left in the game.

Clayton retaliated with a 23-4 run and led 60-46 with 8:14 left in the game.

The Lady Bearcats battled back by outscoring Clayton State, 19-6, over the next seven minutes and cut the Lady Lakers' lead to 66-65 with 1:41 left in regulation.

A Woodard layup gave Clayton State a 68-65 lead with 1:20 remaining then Lander forced the overtime when Brittni Johnson's three pointer tied the game at 68-68 with 51 seconds left.

Myrick opened the overtime with a pair of free throws to give Lander a 70-68 lead, but Clayton got back ahead 73-70 on Woodard's put back.

Lander tied the game at 73-73 on a Judge three-point shot at 3:02 and the two teams tied again at 75-75 and 77-77. Jene'e Jemison tied the game at 77-77 on a jumper and was fouled. Her free throw gave Clayton a 78-77 lead with three seconds left. Lander turned the ball over on the inbounds pass and was forced to foul again.

The game went back and forth the first few minutes of the first half and the Lady Bearcats built up their first six-point lead at 17-11 with 12:17 remaining on a Brianna Webb layup. Lander led by six again at 9:35 when Butler's jumper gave the Lady Bearcats at 22-16 lead.

Lander connected on 28-of-70 field goals (8-of-21 threes) for 40 percent and made 13-of-16 free throws for 81.3 percent.

Clayton State made 31-of-73 floor shots (4-of-14 threes) for 42.5 percent and downed 13-of-18 foul shots for 72.2 percent.