GREENVILLE, S.C. - For the second consecutive season the Anderson
University women's basketball team has advanced to the South
Atlantic Conference Tournament championship game.
This time, they want to close the deal.
AU (22-5) knocked off Lincoln Memorial (17-12) 69-51 on Saturday
at Timmons Arena in Greenville, spoiling the Railsplitters'
first-ever appearance in the SAC Tournament semifinals thanks to a
stellar effort offensively and defensively.
The result sent the Trojans, the league's regular season
champions, through to Sunday's title game. They'll face the winner
of No. 2 Newberry and No. 3 Wingate at 1 p.m.
Anderson last won the conference tourney in 2013 and fell to
Newberry in last March's title showdown.
"Just really proud of our effort today," AU coach Jimmy Garrity
said. "Hat's off to Lincoln Memorial for having a great season.
They're a tough matchup for us but I thought our girls did a
fantastic job on defense. I really felt like our defensive effort
won the game for us. We did a good job on their drivers, contested
shots and I thought we did a really good job rebounding."
SAC Player of the Year Jennifer Monroe had another huge outing
for the victors, recording her 10th double-double of 2015-16 with
19 points and 16 rebounds.
"I don't think we ever got comfortable," Monroe said. "But
that's one thing we try not to do, we just try never to get too
comfortable and keep going and going."
AU got 12 points from Madison Floyd, followed by Alexis Dillard
(10), Nakia Young (9), Heather Jankowy (8), Cassie Ketchum (4),
Bailey Sims (4), Sara Goble (2) and Tamia Eatmon (1).
A gutty effort by Krystal Evans' charges was paced by Jasmine
Kelly (9), followed by Stephanie Smith (8), Kiara Rawls (7), Karsen
Sims (7), Ross Mathis (5), Megan Pittman (4), Britney Guy (4),
Sydnie Anderson (3), Josey Harding (3), and Lakeisha Beasley
(1).
Ranked No. 25 nationally and No. 5 in the Southeast Region,
Garrity's team is in a good position to grab a spot in the NCAA
Division II Tournament regardless of what happens on Sunday.
However, the Black and Gold would prefer winning a berth instead
of having to wait to be awarded one.
"We were in this situation last year but we haven't even looked
ahead at the tournament," Floyd said. "This is one game at a time.
But obviously you want to win it all."
Having seized a 17-point lead at halftime the Trojans needed
only to keep the Railsplitters at arm's length in the second half.
However, the eventual winners scored the first eight points of the
third period and an LMU scoring drought that began midway through
the second quarter extended through the first three minutes of the
third.
That allowed Anderson to lead by as many as 26 points and take
an insurmountable 54-30 lead into the fourth quarter.
"Basketball is a game of runs," Floyd said. "We stopped their
run first and we got a run."
Both teams had shooting woes in the first quarter but Anderson
exited the period with a 19-14 edge, getting nine of its points
from the foul line while hitting just four field goals.
In the second frame, however, the Trojans took charge.
While LMU continued to struggle from the field Anderson finally
found the range, and stepped up its defense in the process.
While the tourney's top seed was getting points from inside and
outside the arc, the 'Splitters were held scoreless the final 5:24
of the quarter.
The result was a 35-18 AU lead at intermission, leaving the No.
5 seed a massive crater to try to climb out of.
"I didn't realize it was that long a stretch that we held them scoreless," Garrity said. "Again, that's just a really good defensive effort."
