GREENWOOD – WyKira Johnson-Kelly (Franklinville, N.J.) scored 19 points as the Lander Bearcats scored the first 13 points of the game and pulled away from rival Erskine 64-47 Monday night at Horne Arena.
Lander earned its sixth consecutive victory, improving to 6-2. The Flying Fleet fell to 1-4.
Johnson-Kelly made eight of 11 shots from the floor while pacing the Bearcats with six assists.
Tanyia Gordon (Plant City, Fla.) scored 15 points for Lander on seven of 11 shooting while leading the Bearcats with seven rebounds, four steals and three blocked shots.
Quadaija Langley (Travelers Rest, S.C.) added 10 points for Lander while Cory Santoro (Bellevue, Ohio) hit three early 3-pointers and finished with nine points. Trinity Thomas contributed three steals for the Blue and Gold.
Janelle Carter led Erskine with 13 points and seven rebounds. Anzya Cook distributed five assists for the Flying Fleet.
The Bearcats made their first five shots from the floor and were 6-for-9 by the time they built a 13-0 lead midway through the opening quarter. Gordon and Langley each scored twice in the 13-0 run.
After Shanece Mitchell's layup pulled the Flying Fleet within 13-5 with 2:27 left in the first, Lander got hot behind the arc. Santoro made the first Bearcat 3 from the right corner, helping give Lander an 18-6 lead going into the second quarter.
Santoro opened the second period with two more treys from the right wing while Langley added a 3-pointer from the left side as the Bearcat lead grew to 27-6.
The Blue and Gold added four more layups to build a 35-9 advantage with 4:29 remaining in the half. Among those was Courtney Nesbitt (Loganville, Ga.) first career points, a layup off a long pass from Johnson-Kelly.
Carter hit a 3-pointer to push Erskine into double figures as it trailed 35-12.
Gordon's jumper from just inside the free-throw line at the buzzer gave Lander a 41-19 lead at the break. The Bearcats made 18 of 31 shots in the first half (58 percent).
Langley found Gordon open in the left corner for a 3-pointer, extending Lander's lead to 50-22 with 3:46 left in the third.
Johnson-Kelly closed the Bearcat scoring in the third quarter with a steal and driving layup making it 56-31 going into the fourth.
Carter's layup off a turnover pulled Erskine within 57-35 early in the fourth. But Johnson-Kelly's 3-pointer stretched the Lander advantage to 60-35 with eight minutes left.
Carter's lane jumper pulled the Fleet within 60-41 at the five-minute mark. Erskine got as close as 16 points in the final minute.
The Bearcats will take a long break until next Friday, December 15th when they welcome the Columbia College Fighting Koalas to Horne Arena for a 5:30 PM tip-off.
