Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

The Fort Valley State Lady Wildcats defeat the Benedict Lady Tigers, 74-60, at Frank L. Forbes Arena to advance to the women’s championship game.

In the game’s first 20 minutes, the Lady Wildcats took advantage of a poor half of shooting by the Lady Tigers who converted only five of 28 shots (17.9%). In that same period, the Lady Wildcats made 12 of 32 shots (37.5%) to take a 41-28 lead at halftime.

In the second half, Lady Wildcats raised their shooting percent to 42.9% with a 12 of 28 shooting performance. The Lady Tigers also raised their field goal percentage by making 11 of 24 second half shots (45.8%).

The Lady Wildcats were led by All-SIAC selection Kendra Evan who finished with a game-high 27 points and 13 rebounds. Charvez Holmes and Brittany Jackson finished with 14 and 12 points respectively for Benedict College.

The Lady Wildcats will play in the SIAC Women’s Basketball Championship Game tomorrow (Saturday, March 5^th) at 5 p.m. in the Forbes Arena on the campus of Morehouse College. This will be their first championship game appearance since 2009.

The Benedict College Tigers the #1 seed in the year’s tournament clashed with #4 seed Clark-Atlanta University Panthers, in semi-final action, in the Forbes Arena. It was the Panthers (21-8) who played like they were the #1 seed, racing past the Benedict Tigers (21-7), 75-52.

Holding on to a 14 point halftime advantage, the Panthers blew the game open at the beginning of the second half, with a 4-0 run, for a 20 point margin 42-22 at the 17:18 mark, to make it a huge uphill battle for Benedict. The Panthers lead continued to grow to as many as 27 points, (51-24) by the time the clock read 13:10. The closest the Tigers could come was 17 points, (58-41) with 5:34 left. Clark-Atlanta cruised, the rest of the way, to come away with a 75-52 victory.

The Clark-Atlanta University Panthers went into intermission with a 38-22 lead over the Benedict College Tigers. The Panthers obtained their lead by shooting 54 percent from the field, 55 percent from beyond the three point arc, and going 4-5 from the free-throw line. The Panther defense held Benedict to just 32 percent from the field 6-8 from the free-throw line, and 0-9 from the three point area. David Brown led the Panthers at the break with 13 points. While SIAC Player of the Year Marcus Goode scored 11 points for Benedict. 

Goode led the Tigers in scoring with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Xavier Collier added 13 points for Benedict in a losing cause.

The Panthers were led offensively by Brown with a game high 20 points. Julius Sudds scored 12 points, and Najee Lane ended up with 11 points.

Clark Atlanta University will play for the 2011 SIAC Men’s basketball Championship, to be played Saturday, at 8:00 pm in the Forbes Arena on the campus of Morehouse College.

The SIAC Women’s Basketball Championship game is set after the Miles Lady Bears defeated the Stillman College Lady Tigers, 62-44.

Stillman kept the game close for most of the first half, scoring the first point of the game after Jamila McKinnis hit one-of-two from the free throw line. Miles answered right away with a layup by Sammeika Thomas, giving the Lady Bears a lead they wouldn’t give up.

With 14:20 in the first half, Miles pushed their lead to 10 on a free throw by Thomas. Stillman pushed back and with 7:17 to play in the first half, the Lady Tiger pulled within four on a jumper by McKinnis.

Miles built the lead back up to 10 at the 4:15 mark, but with 2:45 to play in the half, Stillman cut the lead to five on a Siera Dority jumper.

The Lady Tigers continued driving into the paint and to the hoop. Stojanna Hollis made a layup with 1:15 to play in the period and after a foul by Alicia Ware, Hollis made the first of two free throws. Phyllice Eubanks grabbed the offensive rebound on the second free throw and Dority followed with a jumper in the paint, bringing the score to 27-24 in favor of Miles. The half ended with Miles leading 31-25.

 The Lady Bears came out in the second half with great intensity. Just five minutes into the half, Toccara Charles hit a three-pointer, giving Miles a ten point lead. Ashley Orphey then stole the ball from Eubanks and went coast-to-coast for the fast break layup, putting the Lady Bears up by 12 with 14:31 to play.

The remainder of the game went the Lady Bears’ way as they capitalized off missed shots and turnovers by the Lady Tigers. Miles scored 13 points off turnovers while dumping 18 points in the paint and 10 second-chance points. The end result was a 62-44 victory over Stillman.

McKinnis paced the Lady Tigers with 11 points, 8 rebounds and two blocks. Alecia Young followed with 9 points, 6 rebounds and one block.

Thomas had an impressive showing for the Lady Bears. She clocked a double-double with game-highs in points (21) and rebounds (10), while dishing out three assists and grabbing two steals.

The Lady Bears will play No. 1 seeded Fort Valley State at 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 5th for the SIAC Women’s Basketball Tournament Title.

Stillman College (22-6) earned the right to play for the SIAC men’s basketball championship, by soundly defeating the Golden Tigers of Tuskegee University (19-9) 99-81. The Tigers will play the Clark-Atlanta University Panthers, 6:00 pm tomorrow, for the SIAC Championship, in the Forbes Arena.

The Tigers of Stillman College with a slim two point halftime lead found the game tied at 48-48, on a 4-2 run by Tuskegee. Tuskegee would build a three point lead 53-50, with another 5-2 run. Stillman fought back and built an 11 point lead 78-67 with 5:40 left to play. The Tigers continued to shoot well from the perimeter and their lead ballooned 18 points, 91-73, with 2:16 left. Stillman tasted victory and cruised to the 99-81 win.

The Tigers outscored the Golden Tigers of Tuskegee 53-37 in the second half. Stillman also shot 49 percent (34-70) from the field and 75 percent (24-32) from the free-throw line. Tuskegee shot just 39 percent from the field and was only 3-13 from the three point line for 23 percent.

Stillman started the game on fire building an early 10 point lead (19-9) by the 14:54 in the opening half. But the Golden Tigers came roaring back and pulled to within one point 41-40 with 3:15 left in the first half. The Tigers finished the half with a 5-4 run, for a 46-44 Stillman advantage.

Tuskegee was led by Lorell Friend with 23 points, Andrea Nelson with 16 points, and Javier McKinney and Calvin Thomas with 10 points each.

Lajay Sears led Stillman with a game high 37 points. Kevin Johnson scored 18 points. Anderson Rakee tallied 13 points.  And LaDarius Rhone added 12 points for the Tigers.