Tusculum Upsets Lander to win Southeast Regional Title

The seventh-seeded Tusculum Lady Pioneers outscored top seed Lander 62-39 over the last 30 minutes of the game and won the NCAA Division II Southeast Regional championship with a 70-63 victory over the Lady Bearcats Monday night in front of a packed house at Finis Horne Arena.

After Lander hit its first eight shots from the floor and built a 24-8 lead, Tusculum stormed back behind Regional Most Valuable Player Jasmine Gunn's 30 points.

Tusculum (23-9) advances to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight March 23-26 at the St. Joseph Civic Arena in St. Joseph, Mo, and will play undefeated Atlantic Regional champion Gannon University in a national quarterfinal game March 23.

Gannon (36-0) defeated Millersville for the Atlantic title and has the nation's second-longest NCAA winning streak behind Division I powerhouse Connecticut.

Lander saw its best season in school history come to an end with a 27-4 record. Including in its season was its first-ever Sweet 16 appearance, the highest national ranking ever at No. 7 (they are currently No. 11) and a school-record 14-game winning streak.

Gunn, who scored 96 points in the Regional, made 11 of 20 shots from the floor and eight of eight free throws as Tusculum swept three Peach Belt Conference teams Clayton State, Francis Marion and the Lady Bearcats.

The Lady Pioneers and Lander have met in each of the last three tournaments with Tusculum winning the last two.

Sophomore forward Staci Hicks added 11 points for the Lady Pioneers, while the team's only senior Kat Spears scored 10 points. Six-foot-eight center Catherine Hintz added six points and a team-high nine rebounds, while freshman guard Kendal Baxter added three crucial 3-pointers for nine points. Gunn also had six assists and three steals.

Lander, with a roster of four juniors and eight sophomores, was led by junior forward Shannon McKever's 15 points and junior foward Tasheba Butler's double-double (12 points, 11 rebounds).  Sophomore guards Brittni Johnson and Nardia Robbins led the Lady Bearcats with five assists apiece.

Joining Gunn on the All-Tournament team were Hintz, McKever, Butler and Francis Marion's Nicole Mealing.

Tusculum had a big shooting edge, making 52 percent of its shots to only 38 percent for Lander.

The Lady Bearcats jumped on top early with a dominant inside game. McKever opened the scoring with a wide-open layup off a pass from Butler on Lander's second possession of the game. And after Gunn spun a layup to tie the score at 2, the Lady Bearcats went on a 12-2 run.

McKever hit a reverse layup off a long pass from Johnson to get the streak started, Ciara Lyons made a layup off Jasmine Judge's back-court steal, Butler scored twice inside on a short jumper and open layup, McKever hit two foul shots, and then Kaylyn Small came off the bench and got into the act with a reverse layup for a 14-4 lead at the 15:44 mark.

That opened up Lander's outside game with Mukia Myrick and Brianna Webb each hitting 3-pointers, making it 20-8 with 14:20 to go as the Lady Bearcats were 8-for-8 from the floor at that point. Another post reserve, Keondra Barnes, came in and scored twice in the paint including an offensive rebound put-back for a 24-8 advantage with 12:27 left.

But Gunn got her game going with a driving layup to finally get Tusculum into double figures at 24-10 and added an assist inside to Hicks before Hintz made her presence felt with two close-up baskets to pull the Lady Pioneers within 26-16 at the 10-minute mark. Lyons made two free throws for the Bearcats to end Tusculum's 8-2 run, making it 28-16 with 9:15 left.

After Webb hit a jumper as the shot clock was winding down to give Lander a 30-20 lead with 6:25 to go. The Pioneers went on a big run to pull within a possession. Hicks got the run started with a jumper from inside the top of the key, Brittni Oliver hit a 3-pointer from the left corner after a steal by Baxter, and Gunn got a steal near the top of the key and drove down for a layup to pull Tusculum within 30-27 with 5:15 left.

Myrick's base-line drive for a layup ended the Pioneers' 7-0 run, but Gunn answered with two free throws to pull Tusculum back within a possession again at 32-29 with 4:29 remaining.

But both teams went suddenly cold with a series of turnovers and missed shots.

After five scoreless possessions by each team, Lander finally got on the board when Small took a pass from Johnson and made a layup to give the Lady Bearcats a 34-29 advantage with 45 seconds left in the half. But Gunn got a steal and hit Spears in stride with a long pass that she converted into a layup that pulled Tusculum within 34-31 with 17 seconds left, and that would be the score at halftime.

The Pioneers got back into the game with a 23-10 run over the last 11-plus minutes of the first half. After Lander hit its first eight shots in the first six minutes of the game, the Lady Bearcats were only 6-for-21 the rest of the half.

Gunn swished a jumper from near the free throw line in the first minute of the second half to cut Tusculum's deficit to one before McKever hit one of two free throws to put Lander back up by two. After a Pioneers turnover, McKever passed back outside to Judge for an open 3 to give the Lady Bearcats a 38-33 lead.