Led by a dominating performance from Most Outstanding Player
Teshymia Tillman, the Clayton State Lakers reached the pinnacle of
DII women’s basketball on Friday night as they beat Michigan
Tech 69-50 to win their first National Championship! Tillman
scored a game-high 26 points, hitting 12 of 18 shots from the
floor, with a team-best seven rebounds to lead the Lakers to not
only their first national title, but the first women’s
basketball national championship in Peach Belt Conference history
and the first for any school in the NCAA’s southeast
region.
The Lakers conclude their historic season with a 35-1 overall
record, setting PBC marks for the most wins in a single season and
highest single-season winning percentage. Michigan Tech,
making their third straight Elite Eight appearance, finishes 31-3
overall.
Like all three of their Elite Eight games, the championship
against Michigan Tech was a close affair throughout most of the
first half before the Lakers’ relentless pressure wore down
their opponents. The two teams both had trouble finding
points in the early going until MT’s Lindsey Lindstrom
drained a three-pointer five minutes in that opened up a 7-10
Huskies lead. That lead grew to 18-13 five minutes later on
another three-pointer, this one from Sam Hoyt.
Michigan Tech entered the game as the third-best three-point
shooting team in the nation, but was held to 10 attempts and five
makes in the game, three of those coming in the first half.
The lead remained at five, 20-15, when Clayton State made their
first run, a 7-0 spurt that took just over three minutes.
Tillman began the run with a free throw and Tanisha Woodard ended
it with a layup. Michigan Tech went cold from the floor,
missing six straight shots before Lisa Staehlin’s jumper with
4:25 left tied the game at 22.
Clayton State then found their rhythm, hitting four of their
final five shots of the first half for a 7-2 run over the final
2:48 that sent them into the locker room with a 31-24 lead.
That momentum carried over as the Lakers scored the first 11
points of the second half, holding the Huskies scoreless until a
jumper at the 17:53 mark. The Huskies, who committed fewer
turnovers than any team in the nation coming into the game, had
five in the first three minutes of the second half.
Kayla Mobley drained a three-pointer for Clayton State with
14:27 left that opened up a 21-point margin at 49-28. The
Huskies trimmed that lead down to 16 on three occasions over the
next four minutes, but could never get any closer.
Up 16 with 6:53 to play, the Lakers put the issue to rest with
an 8-2 dash, four of those points coming on Tillman layups. A
three-pointer from Hoyt with 2:55 to go would be the last field
goal for the Huskies as the Lakers stormed the court as the final
buzzer sounded.
Tillman added a block, a steal and two assists to her
line. Drameka Griggs was the only other Laker to reach double
figures with 12 points. Brittany Hall and Latonda Bruce added
seven each while Bruce and Breanna Fort grabbed five rebounds
each.
The Lakers hit 47% (30-63) shots from the field, giving them two
game out of three in the Elite Eight where they shot 45% or
better. The nation’s leader in steals, the Lakers
were actually below their season average with 15 takeaways on the
night, but forced a season-high 25 Huskie turnovers. The
Lakers also held the Huskies to a season-low point total.
Staehlin led the Huskies with 18 points while Hoyt added
11. Lucy Derovsek had a game-high nine rebounds and four
blocks. MT shot 37% (17-45) from the field.
The women’s basketball national championship is the
30th overall title for the Peach Belt Conference.
Video
Highlights of the Game (From NCAA.com)