By Joshua J. Darling, Sports Information Director
LAGRANGE, Ga. – No. 2 Seed LaGrange (20-6, 13-3 CCS) pulled away in the second half in a 74-59 victory over No. 7 Seed Covenant (8-18, 5-11 CCS) to tie the program's NCAA Division III single season win mark and punch their ticket to the semifinals of the inaugural Collegiate Conference of the South (CCS) tournament in women's basketball action on Wednesday, February 22.
With the victory, this year's team has equaled the mark set by the 2010-11 squad that went 20-5 for the most wins in a season since moving to DIII in 1999-2000. They will have the opportunity to break that mark in their semifinal matchup on Friday, February 24 against No. 3 Seed Piedmont.
Freshman guard Laila Battle (Smyrna, Ga.) was dominant of the bench as she has been all year, leading the Panthers with 19 points to go with three steals and a pair of assists and sophomore guard Zyhia Johnson (Homerville, Ga.) was right behind her with 18 points and six boards.
Senior forward Breonna Glover (Macon, Ga.) added 10 points and five caroms and freshman forward Skylar Edwards (Canton, Ga.) finished with seven points, five rebounds and three steals. Freshman forward Amanda McLendon (Orlando, Fla.) rounded out the top performers with four points, seven boards, three steals and three blocks.
The Scots took a 5-2 lead in the opening minute before LaGrange came back with an 11-3 run fueled by four different scorers to pull ahead 13-8 by the 3:47 mark. From there, however, Covenant would use a 9-4 run to pull even at 17-17 by the quarter break.
Johnson would score the first five points in the opening minute of the second to put the Panthers up 22-17 only to see a matching 5-0 burst knot it up again by the 6:21 mark. It would continue to be a tightly contested affair as LC put together another five point stretch for a 27-22 advantage before the Scots scored five of the final nine points of the opening frame to cut it to 31-27 by the half.
A triple by Karis McIntosh would get the third going and spark a 6-0 burst that flipped the script and put Covenant back in front 33-31 by the 8:21 mark. At that point Battle would step up and deliver a personal 7-0 run as part of a 10-0 outburst that took LaGrange from two down to up 41-33 with 4:30 showing on the clock.
The Panthers would then maintain at least a five-point margin the rest of the quarter but the Scots would not let it go beyond an eight point spread as they headed to the fourth with the score 52-44. That would change in that final frame, however, as an opening bucket by Cosette Kirsch that cut it to six gave way to a decisive 9-2 run that extended to a 61-46 advantage with 6:32 to play.
From there LaGrange would push the margin to as much as 17 on a pair of occasions before closing out the 74-59 victory and punching their ticket to the semifinals of the Collegiate Conference of the South Tournament.
McIntosh led the Scots with 17 points while Kirsch finished with 12 points, four rebounds and three assists. Megan Rouse hauled in nine boards to go with four points, four assists, a steal and a pair of blocks. Tori Caldwell rounded out the top performances with eight points on the night.
The Panthers have now earned a berth in the semifinals of the CCS Tournament and will face No. 3 Seed Piedmont on Friday, February 24. That game will be played in Berea, Kentucky, at the top remaining seed, No. 1S Berea with game time yet to be determined.
