Lady Cougars, Lady Tigers in region semifinals

Cleveland State’s “Elite Eight” are in the final four.

So are Chattanooga State’s all-freshman Lady Tigers.

And, most amazingly, Roane State’s seventh-seeded Lady Raiders, who from a 10-point halftime deficit won in a runaway, 70-53, against No. 2 seed Southwest Tennessee in the women’s quarterfinals Sunday of the TCCAA/NJCAA Region VII basketball tournament at Chattanooga State.

The other winner was top-seeded, nationally ranked perennial champion Walters State, which beat Motlow State 54-45 as TCCAA player of the year Sara Vujacic had 17 points and seven rebounds despite playing with a stress fracture in her foot. Also for the Lady Senators (26-5), who have one All-TCCAA standout sidelined with a knee injury, Oneisha Turner scored 12 points and Gazmyne Herndon contributed 10 rebounds, four assists and three steals with 10 points.

Tajah Clark led Motlow (8-20) with 10 points.

All-conference second-teamer Amberlee Zeller and Rachel Layne each scored 18 and Monae Mayes and Cinthia Mbakop Ngassam added 15 and 14 for Roane (14-17), which outscored Southwest (21-8) 30-12 in the fourth quarter. Takya Bennett had 16 points for the Memphis team.

Almost as amazing as Roane’s outcome was Cleveland State’s, at least in the extent of the fifth-seeded Lady Cougars’ 77-49 victory over No. 4 seed Dyersburg State. The teams had split their regular-season meetings, and the Cleveland win was by one point on Feb. 23, but on Sunday the Lady Cougars led 13-3 after one quarter and 36-16 at halftime.

“We knew coming in they were going to be a tough out, and we had to match their intensity and physicality. I think we did that,” first-year Cleveland State coach Evelyn Thompson said. “We got exceptional effort from everyone on our team today.

“We call them the Elite Eight — that’s how many we have left from the original 12.”

Her two All-TCCAA first-teamers, Abby Hubert and Ebony Kelley, had 21 and 18 points, Kelley with 12 rebounds, and Julia Gaither had 16 points, eight rebounds and seven assists and controlled the flow.

“Julia is always our rock. She’s always our galvanizing force,” Thompson said. “She led us and everybody else followed in her footsteps.”

All-TCCAA Eryn Foster had 19 points and 12 rebounds for Dyersburg (12-11).

The Lady Cougars (16-10) play at 6 tonight against Walters, after the sixth-seeded Cleveland State men’s 4 p.m. semifinal against No. 2 seed Motlow.

The third-seeded Chattanooga State women (20-10) face Roane at 8 after beating sixth seed Columbia State 65-51 on Sunday night. Ashlyan Baker scored 14 points and all-conference first-teamer Shanice Nelson, Zikaya Wright and Mackenzie Trouten added 12 each for the Lady Tigers, countering 18 by All-TCCAA De’Naizha Elder and 13 plus seven rebounds by Areyanna Majors.

From a 14-13 first-quarter advantage the Lady Tigers built a 12-point lead that shrank to 32-29 early in the third quarter but quickly grew again to double digits. It reached 55-39.

Coach Stacey Franklin said the way her team was playing defense and rebounding kept her from being concerned when the game got close.

“To hold a team like Columbia to 51 — they’re so athletic and so versatile — we’re happy about that,” she said. “Roane is another versatile team. They’ve got shooters and drivers and can score at all three levels.”

Contact Ron Bush at rbush@ timesfreepress.com or 423-7576291.