COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Bearcats opened the USC 7's tournament against the NIRA Gold Standard team in Queens University of Charlotte. The Bearcats found themselves in a back and forth defensive battle against the Lions. After several big tackles and loads of pressure from the Burt sisters (Jess '23, Bailey '22) and
Paige Wisebaker ('22) eventually the Lions would turn the ball over, and
Bailey Burt recovered it and ran the ball through several defenders for a 50+ meter try scoring effort, after a successful conversion the Bearcats led 7-0. Then tragedy struck when Senior
Allyson Arias was on the wrong end of a collision and was carted off the field with a serious Injury. The game was stopped for several minutes as the team returned to the field graduate student Jessica Grillo rallied the team saying lets win this one for Ally, she didn't have to wait long as the game resume Jess found another gear and outpaced the Queens defense to the goal line for a 50 meter score another successful conversion gave the Bearcats a 14-0 Lead the score stayed that way for several minutes behind strong defense by both teams. A scrum was awarded and the Lions turned over the ball due to heavy pressure from the Bearcats.
Jess Grillo recovered the ball and ran it untouched for a 30 meter score,
Julia Anhalt ('22) with another successful conversion gave Lander a 21-0 lead.
Kaylynn Hamby ('24) checked into the game and wasted no time rumbling stumbling and blasting her way 40 meters for her first ever try, which was the nail in the coffin and securing the win for the Bearcats 26-0.
Game 2 vs Tournament host University of South Carolina Gamecocks, the game was to be a preview for next weeks South Carolina Collegiate 7's State Championship. The game started off with a bang when on the opening kickoff Senior Bailey Burt caught the kickoff and stiff armed her defender and just about everyone on the other team on her way to a 70 meter run which gave the Bearcats an early lead 7-0. On the ensuing kickoff Erin Wholey ('22) made back to back tackles to push USC back and forced them to knock the ball on. USC found some defensive rhythm and turned the ball over and on. The ensuing counter attack found their very fast wing who ran it in for a USC score which knotted the game up at 7. USC kicked off to the thunder side of the field, and boy was that a mistake. Bailey Burt settled under the kick and shuck off two defenders, one of which was from a massive stiff arm which brought the crowd to its feet as she ran it in from 60 meters out for the score giving lander the lead 14-7. Julia Anhalt ('22) kicked off and the ball hit the ground and Burt scooped it up stiff armed a girl to the face with her patented stiff arm and ran it in for the hat trick, extending the lead to 19-7. Halftime was about 30 seconds away when an errant pass by lander was taken by USC who ran it in for a score to make it a close game 19-14. The second half started and it was a back and forth affair that left both teams tired. Lander made some key substitutions and those subs payed off, with a massive defensive effort being put in by the reserves. With about 3 minutes left in the game Lander found the insurance they were looking for when Sha-Lea Davison ('25) received a smooth pass from Erin Wholey, and after Sha-Lea bull-rushed through several defenders, she found pay dirt for the score. Julia Anhalt kicked the conversion to give Lander the final score of 26-14.
Game 3 vs Lee University, The Lander Women were excited for this game, yet extremely focused. That focus paid off as Lander was off to the races scoring several tries and ending the game with a massive 41-0 win to go 3-0 on the day and bring their record on the season to 4-1. The story of the game was that several new players found their way on the pitch and all of them contributed and got valuable minutes. Grace Carman, Grace Hall, Kaitlyn Battle, all deserve high praise, having sat most of the day and coming in during this 3rd game and putting in a massive effort.
"We are trying to build something special this year, every week we are facing tougher and tougher competition and we hope that this ramp up will help us be successful next weekend when we host the South Carolina Collegiate 7's State Championship," said coach Ken Pape.
