GREENWOOD – Nyeshea Willie scored all 18 of her points in the second half as No. 27 Barton College held off No. 10 Lander 74-72 in the opening round of the Lady Bearcat Tipoff Classic Saturday evening at Horne Arena.

It was the season opener for both teams.

The Tipoff Classic continues Sunday with USC Aiken taking on Barton at 2 o'clock, followed by the Lady Bearcats versus Ferris State at 4. Ferris State upset No. 17 USC Aiken 60-58 in Saturday's opener.

Faith Hunter added 15 points and four assists for Barton, while Jannetta Robinson and Shante Neal scored 12 points apiece. Jolanda Mitchell led the Bulldogs with seven rebounds.

Ciara Lyons paced the Lady Bearcats with 20 points, including eight of 10 free throws, and also had six assists and five steals.

Janyce Ealey added 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds for Lander, Mukia Myrick contributed 12 points and eight rebounds, and Precious Elkins scored 10 points.

The Lady Bearcats had a 44-37 edge on the boards. Barton College committed 22 turnovers while Lander had 18.

The Lady Bearcats hit 27 of 70 shots from the floor (39 percent), 17 of 21 free throws (81 percent), but only one of 12 from 3-point range (8 percent).

Barton made 27 of 63 shots (43 percent), 17of 18 free throws (94 percent), and three of seven from behind the arc (43 percent).

Lander scored the game's first eight points and Judge hit a 3-pointer, giving the hosts an 11-4 lead at the 16:43 mark.

Barton responded with a 13-2 run, taking their first lead, 14-13, on Robinson's jumper at the 12-minute mark. Hunter capped the run with a 3-pointer, giving the Bulldogs a 17-13 lead.

Ealey's putback tied it at 17 with 9:09 left. The rest of the half was back-and-forth with several ties and lead changes, with the last tie of the half being 31-all with 2:44 left on the first of two Mitchell free throws.

After Mitchell's second free throw gave Barton a 32-31 lead, the Lady Bearcats scored six unanswered points on a basket by Elkins, two Lyons free throws, and a layup by Myrick for a 37-32 advantage with 1:04 to go.

Lander led 39-36 at halftime.

Barton opened the second half with an 11-4 run, taking a 45-43 lead on Willie's 3-pointer and expanded the advantage to four on Hunter's spinning jumper in the lane at the 16-minute mark.

Kaylyn Small kept Lander close with a reverse layup off a pass from Lyons that pulled the hosts within 53-50 and would score again off an inbounds pass from Kami Phillips to cut the deficit to 55-52.

But Willie hit a 3-pointer, made a steal and driving layup, and added a jump shot during a key stretch to give Barton its biggest lead of the game at 62-54 with 9:53 left.

The Lady Bearcats began to chip away, closing within 64-60 with 7:23 left on Ealey's two free throws. Lyons hit a jumper in the lane to pull Lander within 64-62 with 6:05 to go, and Lyons converted a three-point play that gave the Lady Bearcats a 65-64 lead at the 5:33 mark. It would be Lander's last lead of the game.

Barton regained the lead, 66-65, on a layup by Willie and extended the edge to three on Robinson's jumper from the right corner just inside the arc with 4:08 left.

Myrick's shot in the paint pulled the Lady Bearcats within 70-69 at the two-minute mark. After Lander got a steal, Barton stole the ball right back and Willie scored in the paint for a 72-69 lead with 1:33 left.

Hunter's two free throws extended the Bulldog lead to 74-70 at the 1:11 mark. The Lady Bearcats allowed a lot of time to run off the clock before Lyons spun inside for a layup that pulled them within 74-72 with 36.8 seconds left.

Barton's Willie held the ball near the center stripe as the clock wound down before passing the ball off to a teammate who drove inside. But Elkins drew a charge with 7.8 seconds left, giving the Lady Bearcats a chance to tie or take the lead.

Barnes threw the ball inbounds to Lyons, who drove across mid-court toward the basket, but missed a baseline jumper at the buzzer.