Lenoir-Rhyne Wins 2009 Food Lion SAC Women’s Basketbabll Tournament

HICKORY, N.C. - Lenoir-Rhyne University defeated Tusculum College, 66-57, to win the 2009 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament Sunday afternoon at the Catawba Valley Community College Multipurpose Complex in Hickory, N.C.

Bear junior Denise Moore (Newport News, Va.) led the way with 16 points and 16 rebounds, both team-highs, as Lenoir-Rhyne (26-4) won its second league tournament title in school history. L-R also won the championship in 2003. Moore was named tournament most valuable player.

Tusculum, which fell to 25-5 on the year, was paced by junior Kat Spears' (Memphis, Tenn.) 14 points and 14 rebounds but the Pioneers shot just 26 percent (18-of-70) from the field in the losing effort. Sophomore Jasmine Gunn (Nashville, Tenn.) led the Pioneers with 17 points but made just five-of-23 field goal attempts.

Lenoir-Rhyne, ranked No. 23 in NCAA Division II, and Tusculum will now await their bids to the playoffs. The Bears are ranked first in the Southeast Regional Poll while the Pioneers are fourth.

Lenoir-Rhyne's Amber Holt goes up for a shot against Tusculum in Sunday's Food Lion SAC Tournament championship game. Photo by Mike Slade.

Tusculum, ranked 13th in the nation, took a 28-27 lead into the break but Lenoir-Rhyne opened the second half with a 16-8 run six minutes in culminated by a three-pointer from junior Amber Holt (Charlotte, N.C.) and the Bears would never relinquished the lead the rest of the way. Holt would finish with a game-high 19 points and would be named to the all-tournament team as well.

The Pioneers would cut to margin to two points twice (52-50 and 54-52) with under three minutes left but the Bears' free throw shooting proved to be the difference.

Lenoir-Rhyne would finish 24-of-33 (73 percent) from the charity stripe and set the SAC record for most free throws in a championship game.

Freshman Whitley Culler (Mount Airy, N.C.) added a double-double for Lenoir-Rhyne with 11 points and 11 rebounds as the Bears held a 53-38 advantage on the boards.

Stephany Neptune (Wallkill, N.Y.) chipped in with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Pioneers, who lost in the title game for the second straight year.

Joining Moore, Holt and Gunn on the all-tournament squad was Newberry's Helen McKinney (Owensboro, N.Y.) and Tusculum's Nikki Van Dine (Columbus, Ohio).

"We held the 13th-ranked team in the nation to 25 percent shooting in the game," said Lenoir-Rhyne Head Coach Todd Starkey. "That has to be one of our best defensive performances this year. I thought we did a good job of fighting on each possession. We made them shoot contested shots.

"We had a loss at Wingate (February 25), that snapped us back to attention. We are not untouchable. If we are not focused, we could lose to anybody. It's March. It's one and done. I think we are up to the challenge."

"It's disappointing. We really focused on defense today and I thought we were doing a really good job," said Tusculum Head Coach Missy Tiber. "I never would have imagined we would come in here a shot 25 percent. You can't win a championship shooting 25 percent. We believe the NCAA Tournament could be something bigger. We are three wins away from an Elite Eight."

LENOIR-RHYNE 66, TUSCULUM 57
LENOIR-RHYNE
Holt, Amber 5-10 8-9 19; Moore, Denise 6-12 4-6 16; Culler, Whitley 4-6 3-6 11; Rann, LaCourtney 2-6 0-0 5; Sealey, Cameron 1-7 3-4 5; Safrit, Jami 1-5 2-2 4; Fulmer, Kristen 0-1 3-4 3; Kremer, Jacquelyn 1-4 1-2 3; Mitch, Brittany 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 20-53 24-33 66.
TUSCULUM
Gunn, Jasmine 5-23 5-6 17; Spears, Kat 7-15 2-2 16; Neptune, Stephany 3-13 8-8 14; Van Dine, Nikki 2-9 0-0 6; Oliver, Ashli 1-4 0-0 2; Shank, Shantae 0-2 2-2 2; Hintz, Catherine 0-1 0-2 0; Parker, Jasmine 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 18-70 17-20 57.
Lenoir-Rhyne........ 27 39 - 66
Tusculum............ 28 29 - 57
3-point goals-Lenoir-Rhyne 2-11 (Holt, Amber 1-4; Rann, LaCourtney 1-1; Sealey, Cameron 0-3; Safrit, Jami 0-3), Tusculum 4-17 (Gunn, Jasmine 2-6; Van Dine, Nikki 2-8; Oliver, Ashli 0-3). Fouled out--Lenoir-Rhyne-None, Tusculum-Neptune, Stephany. Rebounds-Lenoir-Rhyne 53 (Moore, Denise 16), Tusculum 38 (Spears, Kat 14). Assists-Lenoir-Rhyne 11 (Safrit, Jami 5), Tusculum 12 (Van Dine, Nikki 5). Total fouls-Lenoir-Rhyne 21, Tusculum 22. A-724