JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. - The Lander Women's Basketball team held a two-point lead at the half but a third quarter flurry allowed the Lenior-Rhyne Bears to take the lead and not look back as they held on to hand the Bearcats the 67-57 loss on Sunday afternoon at Holt Fieldhouse.
Lander drops to 0-2 on the young season while the Bears improved to 1-1.
Quadaija Langley (Travelers Rest, S.C.),
Alicia Burgos (Milwaukee, Wisc.), and
Cory Santoro (Bellevue, Ohio) each finished with 10 points. Burgos also led the team in rebounds with seven.
The Bearcats got off to a hot start as
Cory Santoro hit a three-pointer to give Lander the 3-2 lead and then buckets from
Abby Carter (Geneva, Ohio) and Burgos plus a
Jakiyah Parker (Augusta, Ga.) free throw stretched it to six at 8-2. The Bears started to get some momentum but back to back baskets from
Tanyia Gordon got the lead back up to eight at 14-6 and after a couple of Carter free throws, Lander led 16-8 after one.
In the second quarter, the Bears were able to get the lead down to four before Burgos and
WyKira Johnson-Kelly (Franklinville, N.J.) quickly got the lead back to eight at 24-16 but an 8-2 run from Lenoir-Rhyne to close the half got the Lander lead down to two heading into the locker room at 26-24.
The Bears quickly tied the game out of the break but Santoro responded with a three to give Lander the lead back. Unfortunately, that would be the last time the Bearcats would lead as an 8-0 run from Lenoir-Rhyne would give them the lead. Although
Abby Carter and
Ashley Tucker (Buffalo, N.Y.) would hit shots to cut the lead to two on a couple of occasions, the Bears would start to build a lead and head into the fourth quarter leading 44-36.
Lander would not go quietly as after the Bears increased the lead to nine, the Bearcats responded with a 9-0 run to tie the game at 48 with 5:36 left. However, the Bears responded with a 13-2 run to go up 11 at 61-50 and although the Bearcats attempted to make a couple of runs, the Bears responded each time to come away with the win.
The Lander Women's Basketball team returns to action on Friday as they travel to Anderson to take on Emmanuel as part of the AU Classic for a 5:00 PM tip. They will also play former conference rival, Young Harris, on Saturday.
