AIKEN, S.C. – Aiken, S.C. – Lander University used a
pair of free throws from Tournament MVP Tiara Good with five
seconds remaining to escape a furious comeback from Armstrong
Atlantic and capture the 2008 Peach Belt Conference Basketball
Tournament 68-65 in the Convocation Center.
Lander, the fourth seed, improves to 22-11 with the PBC
championship and receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Division II
National Tournament, while Armstrong Atlantic’s miracle
tournament run comes to an end as the loss drops the Lady Pirates
to 20-11 for the season.
The Lady Pirates found themselves down 66-55 with just 5:04
remaining, but went on a 10-0 run over the next 4:53 and used a
pair of free throws by Kaneetha Gordon to cut the Lady
Bearcat’s lead to just one at 66-65.
After a foul with five seconds remaining, Good stepped to the line
and showed why she was the PBC Player of the Year and eventually
the tournament MVP, knocking down both free throws to propel Lander
to the 68-65 championship game win.
The Bearcats jumped out to an early lead on a trio of buckets to
open the game for a 6-0 advantage. LaShonda Chiles gave Lander
their first double-digit lead of the game with 12:08 remaining with
a three-pointer to make it 17-6.
The Lady Pirate’s Kaneetha Gordon kept the game close however
with her near double-double in the first half, scoring 10 points
and grabbing nine rebounds.
Lander would take their largest lead of the half at 21-8 with 8:03
remaining on a Shannon McKever free throw and cruised into
intermission with an eight-point 38-30 lead.
Nine first half turnovers from Armstrong Atlantic, accompanied by
just three assist led to the Bearcats to the lead at the break.
Five Lady Bearcats scored in double figures, paced by Good with 22
points. McKever had 13, Stephanie Ponds added 12 and Chiles, the
all-time scoring-leader in NCAA Division II, added 11 points and
six rebounds.
Kaneetha Gordon’s near double-double at the half turned into
an impressive 24 points and 14 points to lead the Lady Pirates.
Lacey Willis was the only other AASU player in double-figures,
scoring 12 points on 5-15 shooting and pulling down five
rebounds.
With Lander’s PBC Championship, they will await placement in
the 2008 South Atlantic Regional, which will be announced live on
CSTV at 10:30 p.m. during the NCAA Division II selection show.
Boxscore
2008 Peach Belt Conference All-Tournament team:
Syretha Marble, North Georiga
Kevina Ransom, Francis Marion
Lacey Willis, Armstrong Atlantic
Kaneetha Gordon, Armstrong Atlantic
Shannon McKever, Lander University
Tiara Good, Lander University
Tournament MVP:
Tiara Good, Lander University
Game 17 – Armstrong Atlantic State vs. Lander –
Quotes
AASU head coach Roger Hodge
“I’m very thankful to have the opportunity to be around
such a wonderful group of kids that have showed so much heart
throughout the year. Even today, every time the odds are stacked
against them, they’ve fought their way back into it. Even
when I wasn’t sure we could.”
Hodge on how they got down
“We fought nerves early, we had no rhythm. Against a good
team like that, you can’t turn the ball over as much as we
did. We missed a lot of opportunities early. I felt we had better
rhythm in the second half. They don’t give you enough
opportunities to crawl back in the game, because they’re so
explosive offensively.”
AASU senior guard Jasmin Herron on how they got back in it.
“I think we stepped it up on defense. Even though we were
down, we still were trading baskets, so once we got some stops, we
could catch up.”
Lander head coach Kevin Pedersen
“We were in a bad place about 4-to-5 weeks ago. We’d
lost four out of six games, and had some things we needed to
correct. To win a championship you need to say ‘I’m
going to be there for the person next to me what ever it
takes.’ Kids started taking more shots in practice, staying
after and we really made the improvements.”
“This is the strongest this conference has ever been top to
bottom, I don’t think anyone’s going to argue with
that. We were one of the five teams to win the regular season.
It’s great, but you can’t be too excited about being
one of five. Winning this game says we were best in the league this
year, and that says a lot for the fight these kids had in
them.”
Lander senior Stephanie Ponds on AASU forward Kaneetha Gordon
“She’s a phenomenal player. Nothing comes easy. I knew
I was in for a fight, she’ll go right through you to get
rebounds.”
Lander freshman Shannon McKever on the final stop
“We knew we had to get a stop. We weren’t going to let
them score. We had a championship to win.”
Baseball
About the PBC
