MORROW, Ga. – The Lander women's basketball team battled back from a 10-point second-half deficit and took a late lead before falling to Wingate 70-67 Thursday afternoon in the first round of the Clayton State Tournament.

The Lady Bearcats fell to 6-3 while Wingate improved to 6-2.

Lander fell behind 43-33 with 14:45 left before rallying at the Athletics & Fitness Center on the campus of Clayton State University.

Jasmine Judge's steal and layup gave the Lady Bearcats a 64-63 lead with 2:24 left. It was the team's first lead since it was 12-11. But Kurie Washington made two free throws to put Wingate back on top, 65-64, with 2:04 to go and the Lady Bulldogs did not give up the lead again as Lander missed four late shots.

Mukia Myrick led the Lady Bearcats with 19 points, Brittni Johnson had 11 points and four assists, Judge added 11 points, Janyce Ealey added 10 points and nine rebounds, and Kaylyn Small had a game-high 13 rebounds. Ciara Lyons and Small had eight points apiece for Lander.

Wingate's Janitsha Williams led all scorers with 21 points including four crucial late free throws, Chantal Dunbar added 16 points, Nikki Burton had 12 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and two blocked shots, and Simone Rutledge added eight points, six rebounds and two blocked shots.

Team shooting from the floor was almost identical with Wingate taking one more shot than Lander and making one more shot. But the Lady Bulldogs had a big day from the free-throw line.

The Lady Bearcats made 22 of 58 shots from the floor (38 percent), 16 of 22 free throws (73 percent) and seven of 23 from 3-point range (30 percent).

Wingate hit 23 of 59 shots (39 percent), 20 of 23 free throws (87 percent) and four of 11 from behind the arc (36 percent).

Rebounding and turnovers were just about as even as the shooting. Lander had a 40-39 edge on the boards while each team committed 18 turnovers.

Wingate extended a 30-28 halftime lead to 43-33 on Sequoia Morton's layup just inside the 15-minute mark. But the Lady Bearcats went on a 9-0 run and the game stayed close the rest of the way. Myrick's 3-pointer ended the run of nine unanswered points, pulling Lander within 43-42 with 12:37 left.

But Wingate continued to stay ahead and built its lead back to seven, 51-44, on a Dunbar layup with 10:50 remaining, and was still up six with 8:20 to go.

The Lady Bearcats again cut their deficit to one when Lyons hit the first free throw, making it 56-55 with 6:11 remaining. But when she missed the second free throw, Wingate stayed out front another four minutes.

Small's free throws cut it to 58-57 at the 4:42 mark and Johnson's jumper pulled Lander within 63-62 with 2:55 to go. Lander finally got a lead on Judge's steal and basket with 2:24 to go.

But after Washington hit the go-ahead free throws for Wingate, the Lady Bearcats missed four shots in a row that could have given them the lead. Williams hit two free throws with 18 seconds left for a 67-64 lead, and Washington added another to increase the lead to four with seven seconds to go.

Johnson's 3-pointer pulled the Lady Bearcats within 68-67 with two seconds left. After a quick foul, Williams hit two free throws with one second left, and Johnson missed a 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Judge hit a 3-pointer to give Lander a 12-9 lead with 14:42 left in the first half. But Rutledge made a jumper in the middle of a 6-0 run, giving Wingate a lead (13-12) that it would not relinquish until briefly late. The Lady Bulldogs led by as many as six until Small's layup pulled Lander within 30-28 at halftime.

A 13-5 run to open the second half gave Wingate its 10-point lead, the only double-digit advantage of the game.