COLUMBUS, Ga. - The Lander women's basketball team exploded for 35 points in the first quarter and muscled its way into Sunday's Peach Belt Conference Tournament championship game after soundly defeating Clayton State, 95-67, in the semifinal round at the Frank G. Lumpkin Center.

Lander, the East Division top seed, improves to 24-6, and will face the West's top-seeded Columbus State at 4 p.m., Sunday. The winner earns an automatic berth into next week's NCAA Division II Southeast Regional Tournament.

Clayton State, the West's No. 2 seed, drops to 22-6.

The Lady Bearcats, who have won 12 straight games, are making their sixth appearance in the PBC championship game and won the title in 1999, 2008 and 2009.

Breshay Johnson dominated the Lakers with a double-double of 27 points and 12 rebounds, while Mylea McKenith had 19 points, Ty'Hesha 16 points, Ashleigh Zandi 13 points and Bre Crum 12 points, seven rebound and six assists.

Clayton State was led by Kenisha Jones-Barret, who netted 19 points and grabbed eight rebounds, while Shay Upshaw scored 10 points with six rebounds.

The Lady Bearcats connected on 38-of-77 from the floor (49.4 percent), including 7-of-22 threes (31.8 percent), and 12-of-21 foul shots (57.1 percent).

The Lady Lakers were 28-of-67 from the field (41.8 percent), including 1-of-10 from the three-point line (10 percent), and 10-of-16 from the foul line (62.5 percent).

Lander, which forced Clayton State into 20 turnovers, also won the rebounding battle, 49-36.

After the Lakers cut the Lander lead to 18-15 with 3:58 remaining in the first quarter, the Lady Bearcats went on a 17-4 run to end the first quarter up 35-19.

A low scoring second quarter sent Lander to halftime with a 48-31 lead, then the Lady Bearcats dominated the third quarter, 27-12.

In their only meeting this season, Lander fell to Columbus State, 78-74, on Jan. 19, in the Lumpkin Center.