Falcons Fall in Final Minute to No. 21 Lander, 60-58

MONTEVALLO, Ala. - The University of Montevallo women's basketball team (7-4, 0-1 PBC) took on its third-straight ranked opponent this afternoon (1/2) as the Falcons welcomed No. 21 Lander University (9-1, 2-0 PBC) to BankTrust Arena. The contest marked the first Peach Belt Conference contest for the women's basketball program at Montevallo. The Falcons once again used an impressive second half to battle their way back into a contest against a top-25 team but fell in the final minute.

The Falcons were led by senior Alicia Lewis (Youngsville, La./Comeaux) who scored a game-high 14 points. Junior Shan Jones (Hartselle, Ala./Hartselle) chipped in 11 points and eight rebounds. Junior Carrie Parrott (Murfreesboro, Tenn./Siegel) grabbed 10 boards to lead the team and scored seven points. Junior Tiaren Young (Forestdale, Ala./Minor) fell just shy of a double-double with nine boards and eight points.

Lander jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game on a pair of Tasheba Butler jumpers and a field goal and free throw by Ciara Lyons. The Lady Bearcats extended the lead to 16-4 on a Nardia Robbins three pointer at 13:53, only to have Montevallo come back and trim the margin to 16-10 on a pair of Young field goals.

Montevallo closed the gap to 20-19 on a field goal by senior Alex Sanabria (Miami, Fla./Miami) with 10:04 left in the half, but Lander made a 5-0 run to go back up 24-19.

Lander made it a 10-point game at the 4:23 mark at 31-21 on a Kami Philllips three pointer and stretched the margin to 37-23 on Shannon McKever's free throw at 2:06.

LU grabbed its biggest lead of the game with 18:44 left in the game when Brittni Johnson's layup gave Lander a 41-26 advantage.

Parrott's layup with 16:06 left cut Lander's lead to 43-34 and the Falcons tied the game at 47-47 at 10:26 on Shan Jones' layup. After the Falcons took a 49-47 lead at 8:09 on a Sanabria jumper, Lander tied the game at 49-49 on Butler's putback at 7:37 and went ahead for good on Jasmine Judge's layup at 7:12.

The Falcons were able to tie it with 1:00 minute left in the game at 58-58 but a layup just 16 seconds later gave the Lady Bearcats their final lead of the game 60-58.

Montevallo was 23-of-63 from the floor for 36.5 percent, including 6-of-17 on threes for 35.3 percent. The Falcons made 6-of-10 foul shots for 60 percent.

The Falcons will return to action Saturday, Jan. 9 at 12:30 p.m. as they travel to Georgia Southwestern State University. The Lady Hurricanes are 5-5 on the season and 0-0 in PBC play. They travel to USC Aiken on Monday before hosting Montevallo the following Saturday.