GREENWOOD – In the first half, Lander's Jasmine Judge hit four 3-pointers while UNC Pembroke made only five baskets as a team. The No. 4 Lady Bearcats took advantage of the shooting discrepancy, building a 40-17 halftime lead on their way to an 80-53 Peach Belt Conference Tournament quarterfinal victory Wednesday night at Horne Arena. (Tournament Website)
Lander, the top seed in the PBC's East Division, improved to 27-2 overall and advanced to Saturday's semifinal game versus Georgia College & State University to be played at 1 p.m. in USC Aiken's Convocation Center in Aiken, S.C. Lander's 27 victories ties the school record for wins in a season.
Second seed Georgia College beat third seed Columbus State 63-45 Wednesday night in another quarterfinal game.
USC Aiken meets national No. 1 ranked Clayton State in Saturday's other semifinal at 3 p.m. Aiken beat Francis Marion Wednesday while Clayton routed Montevallo.
The tournament championship game is set for 2 p.m., Sunday, March 6, at the Convocation Center.
Pembroke, which made only 5-of-33 shots in the first half (15 percent), finished its season at 12-15.
Judge led the Lady Bearcats with 18 points, including five 3-pointers and three more points on free throws when she was fouled behind the arc.
Ciara Lyons added 11 points for Lander, Kaylyn Small scored 10 points on 4-of-6 shooting off the bench, and Brianna Webb also scored 10 points.
Shannon McKever had an off night for the Lady Bearcats, making only 2-of-7 shots and scoring eight points against a lot of double- and triple-teaming. But she had four blocked shots and led the team with seven rebounds.
Chentieh Ladson and Lyons led Lander with four assists apiece while Lyons had a team-high three steals. Ladson and Small also had six rebounds apiece.
DeDe Cotten paced Pembroke with 13 points while leading scorer Jatoya Kemp was held to six points on 0-for-7 shooting from the floor but had a game-high nine rebounds. Talena Faison and Anya Knower had nine points apiece for the Braves. Domonique Washington added eight rebounds for Pembroke.
The Lady Bearcats made sure there would be no upset Wednesday, taking immediate control of the game. Tasheba Butler found McKever inside for a basket in the opening seconds, and Judge hit her first two 3s for an 8-0 lead.
The Braves finally scored on Kemp's two free throws at the 17:09 mark. Butler scored twice for a 12-2 lead before Cotten made Pembroke's first field goal of the night with 15:29 left.
Courtney Bolton scored off Cotten's steal to pull the Braves within 12-6 at the 15:04 mark. But that was close as it would get with Lander putting the game away with a 23-5 run.
Webb started the run with two baskets, and Judge hit two more 3s to extend the Lady Bearcat lead to 25-8 with 9:46 left. The run continued, with Judge getting fouled in 3-point territory and making three free throws, and Webb making a trey for a 35-11 advantage with 5:39 to go.
After a 3-for-27 shooting start, Pembroke finally scored twice in a row on baskets by Cotten and Faison to pull the visitors within 39-17 with 1:40 to go.
Lyons hit a free throw with 20 seconds left, staking Lander to a 40-17 halftime lead.
Washington and Knower scored on consecutive possessions to pull the Braves within 42-21 in the opening minutes of the second half. Brittni Johnson's 3 extended Lander's lead to 46-21 with 17:48 to go.
Pembroke had a good-shooting stretch when Cotten, Bolton and Knower scored to pull the visitors within 49-28, and Faison hit a pair of 3s to cut their deficit to 19, 57-38, with 10:54 left.
But the Lady Bearcats scored the game's next six points on a Johnson jumper, McKever free throw, and another Judge trey for a 63-38 lead. Meanwhile, Pembroke went almost four minutes without scoring until Kemp made two free throws with 7:03 left.
Lander's reserves finished the game strong as Ladson scored twice, Webb hit a 3-pointer, Rachelle Rasley made one free throw, and senior Katie Hupp hit a 3-pointer in perhaps her final appearance on the Horne Arena floor (unless Lander hosts an NCAA Tournament regional). Butler and McKever were also appearing at Horne for the final time unless Lander hosts a Regional.
For the game, Lander made 28 of 62 shots from the floor (45 percent), 15 of 23 free throws (65 percent), and nine of 27 from 3-point range (33 percent).
Pembroke hit 17 of 69 shots (25 percent) from the floor, 15 of 22 free throws (68 percent), and four of 18 from behind the arc (22 percent).
The Braves had a 52-40 edge on the boards but committed 19 turnovers to Lander's 11.
