COLUMBIA - A night after falling to Savannah State 55-41, the Voorhees women's basketball team held off fellow NAIA independent Allen University 81-75 Tuesday.
The Lady Tigers (23-6) held a 17-point halftime lead, but were outscored 45-34 in the second half in completing the season sweep. Mary Cason led all scorers with 19 points and nine assists, followed by Kierra Patterson with 19, Rashonda Mayfield with 15 points and 11 rebounds and Keia Tillman with 11 for Voorhees.
Jacena Thompson had 18 points and Shuntavia Coleman added 14 for the Lady Yellow Jackets, one of five women's teams along with Voorhees competing in the Association of Independent Institutions' basketball tournament set to begin Friday, March 4 at the Jonas T. Kennedy Center on the campus of Claflin University. The Lady Tigers are the top seed.
Voorhees ended a two-game losing streak and rebounded from this past Monday's 55-41 loss to Division I Savannah State.
The victory guaranteed the first winning season in 12 years for the Lady Tigers, who are a provisional member of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. Ezinne Kalu scored 17 points for Savannah State (14-10) while Courtney Long chipped in 15 points, 7 steals and 6 assists.
Meanwhile, Tillman had 10 points and Mayfield grabbed 10 rebounds for the Lady Tigers.
Savannah State jumped out to a 17-4 lead but Voorhees College, who shot 17.4 percent from the floor in the first half, battled back to get within seven with 6:23 left.
The Lady Tigers held Voorhees scoreless the remainder of the period and went into intermission carrying a 24-14 edge.
Leading 36-28, Savannah State scored seven unanswered points to pull ahead by 15 with 9:52 on the clock.
Voorhees never got closer than 12 the rest of the way and with 1:03 remaining Savannah State had built a 55-38 advantage.
In men's action, Voorhees (13-15) was routed 99-71 by Allen University. Richard Johnson scored 29 points and Demetrice Terrell added 20 for the Yellow Jackets, who avenged a 73-58 loss to the Tigers on Feb. 8.
Voorhees closes out its regular season this evening with a doubleheader at Talladega College starting at 4 p.m.
