Women's Basketball Wins on Last Second Shot in AAC Tournament

KINGSPORT, Tenn.- The women's basketball team began play in the Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) Tournament on Wednesday. The seventh-seeded Lady Bulldogs took on the other Lady Bulldogs of the conference, tenth-seeded Union College. 

TWU scored 10 unanswered points to begin the first quarter. Cambree Mayo started with a three-point play and was followed by back-to-back Jacelyn Stone jump shots. Alexis Bates gave the team the 10th point of the contest with her three-point basket. As time kept ticking off the clock, the team added more points through a Abbey Barr layup and a second Bates three-pointer. Union scored the next six points to put the game in a tie with 1:53 left in the first quarter. Mayo broke the tie with her layup, giving the team a 17-15 lead to begin the second quarter. 

Tennessee Wesleyan won the race to 20 points, using a Mayo layup and Stone three-point to move ahead 22-19. Union scored the next six points of the contest, a lead they held on to through the remainder of the half. Ella Crowder made two free throws to cut the lead to one and Bates third three-pointer made the score 28-27. A three-point play by Stone put the game in a 30-30 tie, but Union score four straight points to break the tie. Stone's three-pointer with nine seconds before halftime made the score 34-33 at the break.

Out of the halftime break, Union won the race to 40 points, outpacing baskets from Mikalee Martin and Jaci Powell to lead 40-37. After a Stone layup, Powell made a three-point basket to give the team a 42-40 advantage. As the teams continued to exchange baskets, Barr's jumper put the team ahead for the remainder of the third quarter, and a three-pointer by Stone helped the team lead 50-48 to open the fourth quarter. 

Anna Crowder opened the fourth quarter with a layup. Union took over the lead following the layup until a free throw by E. Crowder helped the team take a 55-53 lead. The back and forth action between the two Lady Bulldogs teams continued as Mayo's three-point jumper helped the team retake the lead with the score being 58-56 with 3:29 remaining in the game. E. Crowder followed with a three-pointer to move the lead to 61-56. Being the close game it was, Union tied the game 63-63 with four seconds left. After a timeout advanced the ball to the offensive sideline for TWU, Stone beat her defender into the lane and hit a floater from the inside the foul line at the buzzer to end the threat of overtime and give the team a 65-63 win to advance them to the next round.

Stone led the offense with 22 points while Mayo and Bates both added 11 points.

The team will return to action at the tournament on Thursday when they face the No. 2 seed in the field, Reinhardt University. The game between the two is set to begin at 7:30 p.m.