HARDIN-SIMMONS EDGES GUILFORD, 72-71, IN NCAA WOMEN'S HOOPS PLAYOFFS
Abilene, TX (03/02/02) -- Lauren Harris' (Stephenville, TX/Stephenville) basket with six seconds left gave host Hardin-Simmons a 72-71 win over Guilford in the second round of the NCAA Division III Women's Basketball Tournament Saturday at the Mabee Complex. Harris' winning score capped a 7-0 game-ending Cowgirls' rally that erased a 71-65 Quakers' lead with 2:10 remaining.
Hardin-Simmons (26-1) advances to a third-round matchup with DePauw March 8 at a site to be determined. Guilford, which lost at Hardin-Simmons, 106-77, in a second-round NCAA game last season, concludes the year with a school-record 25-4 mark.
Two Erin Beacham (Atlanta, GA/Lovett School) free throws with 2:10 remaining gave Guilford a 71-65 lead. Hardin-Simmons junior forward Kendra Anderson (Colorado City, TX/Colorado City) made a free throw with 1:22 left, missed the second, got her own rebound, and put it in for a three-point swing that halved the Quakers' lead to 71-68. Anderson scored 15 of her game-high 28 points in the second half, including 10 straight in the game's last five minutes. She scored with 34 seconds remaining, which pulled Hardin-Simmons to within 71-70. After a Beacham turnover with 16 seconds left, Harris hit the winning basket off a feed from Tiffany Turney Potts (Slaton, TX/Slaton). Beacham's final shot as time expired missed the mark.
The tightly contested game featured eight ties and 25 lead changes. Guilford led 38-36 at halftime and held two seven-point leads, the largest by either team, in the final period. Sophomore forward Jennie Keichline (Cary, NC/East Chapel Hill) hit consecutive three-pointers to give the Quakers a 52-45 edge with 13:13 remaining. Keichline, who had seven rebounds, and sophomore forward Jackie Hardenbergh (Oak Hill, VA/Paul VI) led Guilford with 16 points apiece.
Hardin-Simmons, which shot 58.3 percent from the floor in the second half, made six of its next seven field goals and used a 15-5 spurt to grab a 60-57 edge with 7:08 left. Hardenbergh, who scored 10 second-half points, answered with her third of a career-best four three pointers to knot the game at 60. Her fourth trifecta broke the game's final tie (61-61) with 5:15 remaining. She followed with a conventional three-point play 45 seconds later to swell the Quakers' lead to 67-63 with 3:42 left.
In addition to her 28 points on 11-of-12 field-goal shooting, Anderson totalled 18 rebounds, seven assists, four steals and a block in 38 minutes. Harris made seven of nine shots from the floor and finished with 16 points. Junior center Laura Ricci (Cross Plains, TX/Cross Plains) added 10 points for the Cowgirls. Hardin-Simmons outscored Guilford 46-22, in the paint and scored 14 points off of 12 offensive rebounds. It struggled from the foul line, however, making only 12 of 25 shots from the line, eight of 14 in the second half.
Beacham, a senior, finished with 12 points, five assists and five rebounds in her final college game. She concludes her career with 1,238 points, the seventh-highest total in Guilford history. Beacham also ranks second in career assists (393) and free throws (370). Freshman forward Courtney Hill (Kannapolis, NC/North Rowan) added eight points and a team-high nine rebounds for Guilford. Guilford senior guard Amy Evans (New Bern, NC/New Bern) added nine points and five assists in her final college game.
