NAIA WOMEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT:

For information on the NAIA Tournament click here.

JACKSON, Tenn. — There are no office pools for the NAIA Division I women’s basketball tournament, no scores scrolling before a national television audience and no busloads of analysts breaking down every possession.

But, Vanguard University senior All-American Jessica Richter was happy to point out, this is still March Madness, when the memories of a lifetime can swing with the bounce of a ball.

Those memories were enriched considerably Friday for the Lions, who lost, then regained a late lead to prevail, 70-67, in a scrapbook-making second-round triumph over defending national champion and hometown Lambuth (24-10), before about 2,000 in Oman Arena.

“There’s a little bit of pressure,” said Richter, who was one of a bench full of heroes that helped Vanguard (26-5), ranked No, 4 in the final Division I poll, advance to today’s 2 p.m. quarterfinal against Carroll College of Montana (27-5), ranked No. 13 in the final poll. “I mean it is March Madness and nationals.”

It also may have been the most rewarding and definitely the most meaningful of the three wins achieved by three or fewer points this season by the Lions, who have also dropped a pair of one-point verdicts and a two-point decision this season, the former two coming within the past three weeks.

“We’ve had some games the last few weeks when we couldn’t pull it off,” Vanguard Coach Russ Davis said of a 68-67 home setback and a 53-52 loss in the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament title game, both to Point Loma Nazarene. “But, tonight, we pulled it off. We beat the defending national champion in its hometown and that’s a very well-coached team.”

The Lions, who will make their sixth straight appearance in the quarterfinals today, used a 14-0 run to open an 18-6 cushion. And, after watching Lambuth come within 36-35 at halftime, once again built a 52-40 advantage with 12:58 left in the game.

But Lambuth, which stunned the tournament field to win last season after being ranked No. 19 in the final poll, began knocking down threes, turning up its defensive pressure and turning on what appeared to be a couple hundred of its fans in attendance, to claw back yet again.

And when Eagles sophomore forward Tara Robinson made a 16-foot jumper with 5:21 left, the designated visitors claimed a 59-58 lead, their first since 6-4.

“Both halves, we kind of started out a little lethargic, and dug ourselves some holes that we had to dig out of,” Lambuth Coach Joe Reints said. “I thought our kids showed a lot of heart by digging out of those holes. It could have been easy to say it wasn’t our day and ride off into the sunset. But they came back and took the lead.”

A three-pointer by junior Yolanda Johnson, the 10th of 11 three-pointers made by the Eagles, padded the Lambuth lead to 62-58 with 4:28 left.

But then it was the Lions’ turn to reveal some championship character.

Melissa Cook, a senior who led the Lions with 17 points, despite fouling out, followed with a layup. Freshman point guard Sarah Boyd then sank one of two free throws, as did junior center Lauren Gregory to even things at 62-62 with 3:11 left.

Gregory, with 2:34 left, then Boyd 19 seconds later, hit both ends of double-bonus foul shots to give Vanguard, and its two-dozen fans, cause to exhale.

But Lambuth junior guard C.T, Kintchen, who led all scorers with 26, sank a three-pointer with 1:03 left.

Vanguard freshman Paige Halberg missed a wide-open layup on the ensuing possession, but Johnson misfired from beyond the arc to give Vanguard a possession that would not go to waste.

Davis called timeout with 53.4 seconds left to ensure a good shot and Cook, who sat for five minutes after being called for her fourth foul with 9:46 remaining, backed into the lane and spun to her left to nail a 10-foot jumper that upped the lead to 68-65.

Cook, however, fouled Kintchen in the corner after a three-point attempt, fouling out and sending Lambuth’s most proven clutch shooter (she was 10 for 16 from the field), to the line for three shots that would have drawn the Eagles even.

But Kintchen, a 76.2% free-throw shooter at the time, missed the first, before making the last two, giving Vanguard a 68-67 edge.

After a Lambuth timeout, the plan was to foul Vanguard on the ensuing inbounds pass. But when Boyd delivered the ball to Richter near the Lambuth baseline, Eagles defenders strangely hesitated to foul, allowing Richter to throw the ball to Boyd, uncovered on the other side of the lane.

“We wanted to wrap [Richter] up, we just didn’t execute the foul,” Reints said.

Boyd dribbled forward and threw to Lindsey Rinke before she could be fouled and Rinke, Vanguard’s third senior, lobbed ahead to the unguarded Gregory with time winding down.

Though the Vanguard bench was yelling for Gregory to hold onto the ball and run out the clock, she banked in a layup with one second left, allowing Lambuth one last three-quarter-court desperation heave that wasn’t close.

Cook finished with 17 points on seven-of-13 field-goal shooting, including half of her team’s four three-pointers, and added six rebounds, three steals and three assists.

Richter chipped in 14 points, six rebounds and five steals, while Gregory was four of seven from the field to produce had 11 points, seven in the final 10 minutes.

Sophomore backup point guard Bridgette Reyes had eight points, making two of four field-goal tries and netting all four of her foul shots. Her driving layin with 7:12 remaining broke a Vanguard scoreless drought of 2:46 to help breathe confidence into a fading squad.

“It was a great win,” Richter said. “We stepped up. I’m so proud of our girls. It’s a crazy atmosphere. We were playing basically a home team and it was really fun, This is why we play basketball for things like this — the national tournament — and it was fun to win. We were ahead, but they kept fighting back. I’m proud of us, because we didn’t quit either, We stayed strong after they got up on us.”

Davis was equally proud.

“That team threw all kinds of different defenses at us, pressed us and ran different things,” Davis said. “But we weathered all those storms. That’s our sixth straight trip to the Elite Eight, and that’s pretty good.”

Added Cook: “It was great to play in an environment like this. It will help us [today] and, hopefully, if we get past [today], it will help us on Monday night [in the semifinals]. It was a great experience and a great game.”

NAIA Division I Tournament

Second round

Vanguard 70, Lambuth 67

LU – Brison 8, Robinson 4, Kintchen 26, Preyer 13, Johnson 8, Bryant 6, Lavea 2.

3-pt. goals – Kintchen 3, Preyer 3, Brison 2, Bryant 2, Johnson 1.

Fouled out – Preyer, Bryant.

Technicals – None.

VU – Cook 17, Gregory 11, Richter 14, Boyd 9, Halberg 2, Reyes 8, Pfohl 4, Carlson 3, Rinke 2.

3-pt. goals – Cook 2, Carlson 1, Boyd 1.

Fouled out – Cook.

Technicals – None.

Halftime – VU, 36-35.