AIKEN, S.C. --- Defending national champion Clayton State University outscored Tusculum College 35-8 in the second half to erase a two-point halftime deficit and claim a 51-26 victory in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region Women's basketball quarterfinals from the USC Aiken Convocation Center Friday afternoon.
The second-seeded Lakers (29-3) avenged a 63-51 loss to the seventh-seeded Pioneers (17-11) to advance to Saturday's regional semifinals against Wingate University, which defeated Barton College 64-59 in Friday's first quarterfinal contest.
Four players scored in double figures for the Lakers, led by 12 points and nine rebounds from Kayla Mobley. Tanisha Woodard added 10 points, seven rebounds, a game-high seven assists and four steals in the victory for Clayton State, which forced Tusculum into 29 turnovers in the game and blocked nine shots as a team.
For the Pioneers, who became the first South Atlantic Conference to make five straight appearance in the NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament, senior forward Linda Aughburns grabbed a game-high 18 rebounds and added six points, while fellow senior forward Staci Hicks capped her Tusculum career with a team-high nine points to go along with seven rebounds.
"Give Clayton State credit for what they did in the second half. Anybody watching could tell they just decided they were going to be better, and they were," said Tusculum head coach Adell Harris. "I don't think it was a matter of our kids not trying to compete. They just got after it and really made things difficult for us. They are one of the best teams in the country for a reason."
Clayton State scored the game's first basket on a three-pointer by Brittany Hall, but the Pioneers came back with six straight points to go on top 8-3 with 13:34 to go in the first half on a layup by Aughburns.
The Lakers missed nine straight shots during their scoring drought of 6 1/2 minutes until Drameka Griggs hit a three-pointer with 12:27 left in the first half to bring Clayton State within 8-6.
Tusculum jumped ahead 10-6 on a basket by Aughburns at the 11:57 mark, then both teams went cold from the field until April McCann sank a jumper with 9:30 to go to give the Pioneers a 12-6 advantage.
A fast-break layup by Woodard snapped another drought for the Lakers, this one of 4 1/2 minutes, to bring Clayton State within 12-8 with exactly eight minutes remaining in the half. Woodard added a steal and layup with 6:16 to go in the half to cut the Pioneer lead to 12-10, and Mobley tied the game at 12-12 with two free throws at the 6:00 mark.
The Pioneers broke a drought of their own on a basket by Hicks with 5:40 left to go back on top 14-12, and Alishia Mosley hit a couple tough shots in the lane to extend the Tusculum lead to 18-14 with just over two minutes left in the half.
Tusculum led 18-16 at intermission as Aughburns led all players with six points and 12 rebounds. Hicks added six points and three boards for the Pioneers, while Mobley paced the Lakers with six points and four boards.
"They are known for having strong post players, so we had to keep them off the boards and stop them from getting second-chance shots," said Aughburns, who reached double figures in rebounds for the 11th time this season. "That was a point of emphasis for us going into the game."
Clayton State regained the lead on a three-point play by Keona Dixon with 19:26 left in the game, and Hall followed with a three-pointer to extend the Laker lead to 22-18 with 18:40 remaining. A three-pointer by Kendal Baxter brought the Pioneers back within 22-21 with 17:52 to go, but the Lakers answered with four straight points to take a 26-21 lead with 17:02 on the clock.
Both teams went scoreless for the next 3 1/2 minutes until a steal and layup by McCann trimmed the Clayton State lead to 26-23 with 13:22 left. However, the Lakers went on an 8-0 run over the next 4 1/2 minutes to go ahead 34-23 on a Hall layup with 8:14 left.
A putback by Hicks snapped a nearly six-minute drought by the Pioneers and cut the Laker lead to 34-25 with 7:40 remaining, but Clayton State finished the game on a 17-1 run to limit Tusculum to its lowest point total since joining NCAA Division II in 1999.
McCann and Mosley each finished with four points for the Pioneers, while Baxter's three-pointer was her only hoop of the game in 10 attempts. Tusculum went 1-for-8 from three-point range and was successful on just one of its five free-throw attempts.
After shooting just 20 percent (6-for-30) from the field in the first half, the Lakers heated up in the second half and shot 48.4 percent (15-for-31) to finish the game at 34.4 percent. The Pioneers finished the game at 26.7 percent (12-for-45) from the field, but won the rebounding battle over the Lakers by a 40-36 margin.
"Their post players are athletic in some positions, but I feel like we did a good job of keeping them off the boards," said Hicks. "We tried to get a body on them every single time."
Joining Mobley and Hall in double figures for Clayton State were Hall with 12 points and Dixon with 10. Griggs added three points, three rebounds and three steals off the bench for the Lakers, and Shannon Smith chipped in with four points and a game-high three blocked shots.
Hicks, who finished her Tusculum career with 891 points and 641 rebounds in 115 games (102 starts), set a new Tusculum single-season record for field-goal percentage at 59.9 percent (127-for-212), breaking the old mark of 59.8 percent set by Lydia Taylor in 1994-95. Her career 53.1 field-goal percentage (330-for-622) is fourth-best in program history, and Hicks ranks sixth on the career rebounds list.
Aughburns wrapped up her two-year career with the Pioneers with 475 points and 501 rebounds in 58 career games. Her two-year average of 8.6 rebounds per game ranks fourth on the Tusculum career list. Overall, Aughburns tallied 770 points and 791 rebounds in 108 career college games, spanning two years at UNC Asheville prior to her two seasons at Tusculum.
"I told them that they have had tremendous careers. Every kid who plays collegiate athletics wants to compete nationally, and the fact that they do it year in and year out makes me extremely proud of them. I want them to know that these moments are extremely valuable, win or lose," said Harris. "Being here five years in a row as a program is a tremendous accomplishment. That's what building a program is all about."
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