YOUNG HARRIS, Ga. | Lander University scored the game's first seven points as the Bearcats never trailed in their 59-50 Peach Belt Conference women's basketball victory over Young Harris College Wednesday (Jan. 6) evening at the YHC Basketball Arena.
 
Lander improved to 10-4 overall and to 4-1 in the Peach Belt while the Mountain Lions dropped their third consecutive nail bitter and fell to 7-5 and 2-3. Young Harris returns to action Saturday (Jan. 9) when they travel to Americus, Georgia, for a 1:30 p.m. league contest against Georgia Southwestern State University.
 
Lander scored the first seven points of the game and led by as many as nine points (12-3) on a Ty-Hesha Reynolds layup with 3:09 remaining. The Bearcats scored eight points off 13 first-quarter turnovers by the Mountain Lions as they led 18-9,
 
"We weren't ready to play when the game started," said Young Harris women's basketball coach Matt Stearsman. "We battled to get the score to three at the half and we were good the rest of the game. They got free on a few threes and they rebounded it well for a stretch and that was the difference."
 
The Mountain Lions responded by scoring the opening seven points – two baskets from Meredith Tarver and a three-pointer by Sarah Garner – to trim the deficit to two points (18-16) with 6:22 to play and would trail by three points (25-22) at the half.
 
Young Harris got as close as a points at 27-26 on a Briana Bell layup in the opening moments of the third quarter, but the Bearcats used a 7-0 run midway through the quarter to open up a 40-30 lead on a putback by Breshay Johnson with 2:47 to go.
 
The Mountain Lions trimmed the margin to five points (40-35) at the end of the quarter, but Lander started the final period on a 14-2 run to take its largest lead – 15 points (54-39) – on an old-fashioned three-point play from Bre Crum with 5:11 remaining. The closest Young Harris would get the remainder of the game was six points at 56-50 on a Jasmine Knight jumper with 69 seconds left.
 
Reynolds led Lander with 16 points and six assists while Ashleigh Zandi (15) and Crum (14) finished in double figures. Crum also added 10 rebounds and eight steals.
 
Tarver led the Mountain Lions with 20 points while Bell and Garner added eight points apiece. Jenny Vernet grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds.