LEXINGTON, Ky. - California Baptist's Brittany Klaman hit the go-ahead basket with 2.4 seconds remaining in overtime to give the Lancers an 82-80 win over Georgia Southern in the semifinals of the 13th Women's Basketball Invitational on Saturday evening from Lexington, Ky.
The basket capped a frenetic overtime period that featured four lead changes and four tie scores between the Lancers (21-13) and the Eagles (21-9). The Eagles had tied the score at 80-all on a basket by Simone James with 22 seconds remaining.
Georgia Southern opened the game on a 15-7 run, but CBU rallied in the second quarter to take a six-point lead, 31-25, midway through the period. The Eagles ended the frame on an 8-2 run to take a one-point lead into the break, 35-34.
The Lancers led by six points, 70-64, with 2:13 remaining in the second half. The Eagles held CBU without a field goal for the rest of regulation, and chipped back into the game, eventually tying the contest on a driving layup by Terren Ward with 14 seconds remaining, 71-all. Ward then blocked a shot by CBU's Grace Schmidt and the Eagles secured the rebound with 2.2 seconds left. After a time out, the Eagles had a chance to win it in regulation, but Ja'nya Love-Hill's three-pointer at the buzzer missed to the left.
Terren Ward led all scorers with 31 points, while Le'Andrea Gillis added 10 points for the Eagles. The Lancers placed five players in double figures, led by Klaman's 16 points and a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds by Dorcas Wu.
Eagle of the Game
Ward notched her fourth career 30+ point game by hitting 10-of-24 shots from the floor, including 4-of-11 three-pointers and 7-of-8 from the free throw line. She added six rebounds and three blocked shots in the contest as well.
Stats of the Game
Georgia Southern outrebounded CBU by a 62-42 margin, the 62 rebounds tying for the fifth-most in a single game in school history. But the Eagles made just six of 35 three-point field goal attempts, the attempts tying for the second-most in a single game for Georgia Southern.
Quotables
Head Coach Anita Howard on the overtime loss to the Lancers
"We can play in these type of games. The talk before the game was that our players had never been in this situation. This was a big moment for them. I think we played tight early on, and we were not able to be ourselves. But this is why you come to these events, to be in these type of games and gain experience."
Next Up
The Eagles will play in the third-place game of the WBI on Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m., taking on old SoCon rival East Tennessee State (24-10). The two teams have not met since the Bucs left the SoCon in 2005.
