GREENWOOD, S.C. - Top-seeded Lander showed off its depth with reserves Nardia Robbins, Brianna Webb and Kaylyn Small leading the Lady Bearcats into the NCAA Division II Southeast Region Championship game with a 94-67 victory over fifth seed Carson-Newman Saturday night at Finis Horne Arena.

Lander (27-3) advanced to the national Sweet 16 for the first time in school history and will play seventh seed Tusculum College for the Southeast Regional championship Monday night at 7 p.m. at Horne Arena. Tusculum beat Francis Marion 103-96 in the other Southeast Regional semifinal Saturday night behind Jasmine Gunn's 45 points.

Monday night's winner advances to the national quarterfinals (Elite Eight) to be played in St. Joseph, Mo.

Carson-Newman ended its season at 24-7.

Non-starting sophomore guards Robbins and Webb sparked the Bearcats with 15 and 14 points, respectively, each making big baskets when the Bearcats needed them most.

Another sophomore guard Brittni Johnson also scored 14 points for Lander while junior post players Shannon McKever and Tasheba Butler added 12 and 11 points, respectively. Small came off the bench to score nine points, including a pair of old-fashioned three-point plays in the second half, while grabbing a team-high seven rebounds.

Sophomore guard Jasmine Judge added three 3-pointers for nine points for the Bearcats, while sophomore guards Ciara Lyons and Mukia Myrick led the team with six assists apiece. Sophomore reserve post Keondra Barnes was big for Lander in the first half, making four of five shots for eight points.

Carson-Newman was plagued by poor shooting, hitting only 31 percent of its shots (23 of 75). Senior forward Shari Buford (Hampton, Ga.), senior guard Ashley Kyle (Jefferson City, Tenn.), and junior guard Mandy Mendenhall (Kingston Springs, Tenn.) led the Eagles with 13 points apiece while junior guard Katlin Moore (Fort Mill, S.C.) added 10 points.

Buford led Carson-Newman with 10 rebounds while sophomore forward Zoriah Williams (Calera, Ala.) pulled down eight boards. Kyle led the Eagles with five assists.

Lander was in need of a spark after Carson-Newman had cut a 20-point second-half deficit down to 11, 65-54, with a little more than eight minutes left in the game. Webb ignited the Bearcats by driving to the goal as the shot clock was about to expire, laying in a basket and converting the three-point play to end a long scoring drought.

In the next few seconds, Robbins drove in for a fast-break layup off a long pass from Johnson, Johnson scored another fast-break basket off a steal by Robbins, and Small converted a three-point play off a Robbins assist to complete a 10-0 run and extend what had been a shrinking lead into a much more comfortable 75-54 advantage with seven minutes to go.

After Carson-Newman ended the run with a basket, Robbins went high off the glass for a layup to extend the lead back to 21, 77-56, at the six-minute mark, and Johnson added a spectacular shot to continue the momentum. Judge hit a 3-pointer with four minutes to go, increasing Lander's lead to 84-62.

Small converted another three-point play to give the Bearcats their largest lead of the game at 25, 87-62, with 3:42 left, while Judge hit another trey to push the score to 90-64 at the three-minute mark.

Robbins had another steal and driving layup to increase Lander's lead to 30, 94-64, with two minutes left for the team's final points.

Both teams started off well as McKever scored twice inside, and Johnson nailed a baseline jumper and a 3-pointer to stake Lander to an early 9-4 lead. But Carson-Newman twice pulled within a possession at 9-6 and 11-8. Meanwhile, the Bearcats could not build on their lead because they missed eight of their first nine shots from 3-point range. Finally, Robbins hit a trey and Barnes added her second inside basket of the night to give Lander a 16-10 lead at the 12-minute mark.

Johnson hit a 3-pointer from the left corner to give the Bearcats a 21-13 advantage with 10 minutes left. Kyle hit two free throws to pull the Eagles within 23-18 with 8:05 to go. Lander responded with five unanswered points when Butler hit two free throws and Webb nailed the first of her three 3-pointers for the team's first double-digit, 28-18, with 7:20 left.

After Buford scored inside for Carson-Newman, the Bearcats went on a 10-0 run on McKever's tip-in, a Robbins layup off a long pass from McKever, and a pair of Webb 3-pointers to extend their lead to 18, 38-20, at the five-minute mark.

The Eagles ended the run with a 6-0 run of their own when Mendenhall hit a mid-range jumper, freshman forward Dominique Jackson (North Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) made a free throw, then added a three-point play to pull Carson-Newman within 38-26 with 3:52 to go. The Eagles had three more possessions to cut into the lead but failed to convert.

Barnes ended Lander's three-minute scoring drought with another basket in the paint, but Carson-Newman's Moore answered with a 3-pointer from the top of the key to close the gap to 40-29. Robbins hit two free throws with 44 seconds left to extend the lead, and after the Eagles missed a layup, Barnes scored her fourth basket in as many attempts to make it 44-29 going into halftime.

Kyle scored twice as the Eagles tried to keep pace early in the second half, including a jumper to pull them within 49-36 with 17:45 left. But Lander began putting the game away with a big run. Butler started the 7-0 run with a layup off an inside pass from Lyons, Johnson drove the length of the floor for a layup, and Judge hit a long 3-pointer from beyond the top of the key to give the Bearcats their first 20-point lead of the game, 56-36, with 16:34 to go.

Lander increased its lead to 22, 60-38, at the 15-minute mark when Small scrapped for an offensive rebound after missing two shots, was fouled, and hit two free throws. After Mendenhall's 3-pointer pulled the Eagles within 19, Small was fouled after another offensive put-back attempt and hit one of two free throws for a 63-43 advantage with 13 minutes remaining.

Mendenhall scored and Kyle made two free throws to pull Carson-Newman within 63-47 with 12:29 to go. After McKever scored to increase Lander's lead back to 18, the Bearcats went into a rut and the Eagles took advantage. Mendenhall hit a jump shot, Buford converted a put-back into a three-point play, and Mendenhall made two free throws as Carson Newman completed an 11-2 run to pull within 65-54 with 8:39 to go.

For the game, Lander made 35 of 74 shots from the floor (47 percent), 15 of 17 free throws (88 percent), and nine of 28 from behind the 3-point line (32 percent). The Eagles made 23 of 75 shots, 18 of 25 free throws (70 percent), and three of 18 from behind the arc (17 percent).

---------- story courtesy of Lander University Sports Information Dept. ----------

Carson-Newman Head Coach Dean Walsh

It’s obviously not the way you want to end a season. I don’t care who you play, if you shoot 33 percent, you’re not going to win many ballgames. We just didn’t shoot the ball well tonight for whatever reason. That’s the game of basketball; some nights you shoot great others you don’t. I was proud of our effort, but you have to make shots to win.

(on what the difference was in the game)
We missed 23 layups. When you’ve missed 23 layups you’re proving that you’re getting to the rim. I don’t think it’s anything that they did because they didn’t press us. Our 20 turnovers were self-inflicted in travels and not taking care of the ball in the halfcourt. Zones tend to affect us but we missed 23 layups that’s also self-inflicted. We just didn’t get it done tonight.

(on injuries)
Everybody’s banged up at this time of the year. But to say this bunch is a group of warriors is an understatement. We’re literally pieced together. Ashley Kyle played tonight on one foot and one hand. I could go down the list of people that are injured but that happens at this time of the year. I’m just proud of how we came out and fought hard against a great team. I think Lander could be successful if they make it to the Elite Eight, but they have to face a very hot Tusculum team (Monday).

(on not having “enough gas” coming off the Lenoir-Rhyne game Friday)
I think it created the perfect storm with our injuries. You could really tell it when Zoriah Williams went down. That’s it in a nutshell. But again, we didn’t quit. You don’t get to be 24-7 for just showing up. You have to come to play every night and we did that as a team.  Two of our seniors (Ashley Kyle and Shari Buford) will go down as some of the best players in school history. I’m honored and privileged to have coached them the past four years and they have made this program what it is today.

(on looking back at this season)
It was a tremendous success. To be nationally ranked or receive votes for the entire year has never been done before in school history. To beat the teams we’ve beaten and to play on the road like we have. To come together as a team where we didn’t know one another and didn’t know what was going to happen and look where we are now. There is nothing unsuccessful about this season whatsoever.

(on replacing seniors)
You can’t describe what they mean to this program, the school and the community. They are leaving a big hole to fill. You’re not going to turn around and say that this is going to be an awesome team next year, because you’re going to have to get together and work hard to be able to fill what they bring to the table.

Senior guard Ashley Kyle (on her career at C-N and playing through injuries)
It was a success but it wasn’t always fun playing through injuries, but to get through them and help my team be successful I will be happy when I look back on that.

Senior forward Shari Buford (on her career at Carson-Newman)
I think this was the best year we’ve had since I’ve been at Carson-Newman. We had a lot of young ones on the team but we came together and we played. They came in used to winning so they helped us to where we are right now, but you know everybody wants to win.