Wallace State’s women’s basketball team finishes ACCC tourney runner-up, still receives NJCAA Division I tournament bid

BAY MINETTE – Wallace State’s women’s basketball team ran out of gas Saturday, falling to Lawson State 66-50 in the Alabama Community College Conference (ACCC)/Region 22 tournament title game at Faulkner State’s Jack Robertson Arena.
Lawson State opened up a double-digit lead early in the second half and never let Wallace State trim the deficit to single digits, propelling the Lady Cougars to their first championship in school history.
Despite the loss, Wallace State’s season is not done. As the conference runner-up, the Lady Lions (27-5) have qualified for an at-large bid at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division I national tournament in Salina, Kan., which begins March 16.
It will be Wallace State’s fifth trip to the NJCAA tournament and the first since 2011, when the Lady Lions won their last conference title.
Wallace State, the North Division’s third seed, struggled to find the hot hand from the field against Lawson State on Saturday after riding a thrilling 89-88 double overtime victory over Shelton State in Friday’s semifinals, which prohibited the Lady Bucs from winning a fourth conference title.
The Lady Lions shot just 30 percent from the field Saturday, hitting only four 3-pointers and managing only four field goals in the first half.
“We just got beat. It seemed like we were living on yesterday (Friday) a little and that hurt. We didn’t overcome it,” said Wallace State coach Ron Burdette, whose team had won seven straight. “It’s one of those things you see in sports if you stick around long enough. It’s good we still get to go to Kansas. We’ll see if we can regroup.”
There were four ties and five lead changes over the game’s opening 12 minutes. Wallace State’s Haven Albright tied the game at 14-14 with 7:52 left in the first half.
Lawson State’s Brianna Hubbard hit her only bucket of the game on the Lady Cougars’ ensuing possession, giving her squad a slim 17-14 lead.
Albright later chipped into Wallace State’s deficit with a layup at the 4:14 mark, making it 20-18.
Lawson State, the North Division’s fourth seed, answered with a 9-4 surge to close the half and maintained a 29-22 advantage at the break.
The Lady Cougars (24-9) began the second half with another productive run, using a 10-3 surge to command a 39-25 advantage with 14:44 to go.
Morgan Hardy’s 3-pointer shaved Wallace State’s deficit to 46-36 with 8:02 remaining, but the Lady Lions couldn’t get within single digits the rest of the way.
Albright led Wallace State with 19 points, while BreAnna Thompson scored nine.
Ashley McRear paced Lawson State with 20 points. Tournament MVP Kara Rawls had 14 points and 21 rebounds for the Lady Cougars, who won their fourth consecutive game. Lawson State became the first women’s program besides Wallace State or Shelton State to win an ACCC conference title since 2005.
Smith, who was limited to four points on Saturday, was named the 2015 ACCC Player of the Year for her regular-season efforts. Smith, a Cullman graduate, is the conference’s second-leading scorer with 16.8 points per game and second on the Lady Lions with 5.5 rebounds. Smith has also hit 78 3-pointers this season, including Friday’s double overtime buzzer beater to eliminate Shelton State.
Smith, Thompson and Kaneisha Mixon each were named All-Tournament selections for Wallace State.
The Lady Lions defeated Enterprise State, Faulkner State and Shelton State en route to the title game.
Wallace State will learn its NJCAA tournament opponent early next week.
For more information about Wallace State athletics, visit wallacestate.edu.