Lexington, Ky. – The Transylvania women's basketball team defeated the Anderson University Ravens, 62-59 on Saturday afternoon at the Beck Center in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Semifinals to advance to the HCAC Championship game.
Behind a fiery start, the Pioneers took control of the game against the Ravens and held off a spirited late rally from the Ravens to march into their fifth consecutive HCAC Tournament title game appearance.
Transylvania improved to 13-6 overall and 11-3 against HCAC opponents in 2020-21. Anderson had its HCAC run end at 7-7 as the Pioneers took three of four victories against the Ravens for the season.
The Pioneer backcourt guided the offensive attack as Maddie Kellione posted a team-high 15 points and Zenoviah Walker followed with 13.
After a surgical win on Wednesday on the road at Manchester in the HCAC Quarterfinal, the Pioneers looked comfortable at home, opening up the semifinal with a 10-0 lead. Anderson endured a scoring drought of nearly six minutes before getting on the scoreboard.
Kellione kept the pace afoot for the Pioneers with a catch-and-shoot threeball and a layup to boost her team's lead to 21-7 after the first quarter; Transylvania made 4 of 5 three-point attempts to assert its double-digit lead.
Both teams struggled from long range in the second quarter as Transy and Anderson each scored 13 points on the way to a 34-20 halftime lead for the Pioneers. Transylvania corralled nine offensive rebounds in the first half to help generate nine extra field goal attempts.
Transylvania's guard play rose to the occasion in the third quarter as Grace Shope hit a three-pointer and Walker accelerated to the hoop unabated to grow the Pioneer lead to 48-31 with just over two minutes remaining in the third. Anderson countered with a mini burst to end the third quarter, thinning its deficit to 12 points entering the final quarter.
The Pioneers and Ravens tussled in the fourth quarter before Walked knocked down a three-point basket with under six minutes to go for a 59-43 Transylvania advantage. Transylvania then endured a scoring drought of over five minutes while the Ravens responded with a 14-0 run to cut their deficit to their smallest since the opening minutes of the game.
With Transy's lead cut to 59-57 and less than a minute left in the game, Walker worked down the clock and found Kellione on a backdoor cut to push the lead back to four points with 41 seconds left in regulation.
Anderson quickly scored again to forge a two-point game, but the Pioneers wound down the clock on the following possession before Kellione launched a three-point attempt with the shot clock expiring. Miranda Otero gathered the offensive rebound with under three seconds to go and Shope hit 1 of 2 free throws to give Transylvania a three-point lead. Anderson was unable to find a scoring opportunity on the ensuing inbound as the clock expired, sending Transylvania into next week's HCAC Championship game.
The Pioneers will take on the winner of the other HCAC Semifinal game between Mount St. Joseph and Hanover to be played later on Saturday evening. The Pioneers defeated Hanover 91-61 in the 2020 HCAC Tournament Championship game and split the regular-season series with the Lions with each team winning at home.
Transylvania is making its fifth straight HCAC Championship game appearance and its eighth over the past nine seasons. The Pioneers are the two-time reigning HCAC Conference Tournament Champions.
The tip-off time and date for the HCAC Championship game is to be determined. Visit TransySports.com for the latest schedule updates.
For more on Transylvania women's basketball, follow @TUWBX on Twitter
