Milligan College, Tenn. (Feb. 27, 2010) --- The top seeded Milligan College Lady Buffs fell behind in the second half, and was never able to catch back up as they to Tennessee Wesleyan in the Appalachian Athletic Conference semifinals Saturday afternoon inside Steve Lacy Fieldhouse.

In the first five minutes of the game, Heather Mandela (Fairfax, Va.) scored the opening four points and Brit White (Chuckey, Tenn.) added a 3-pointer and two free throws to give the Lady Buffs an early 9-6 lead. As the game progressed, the Lady Buffs built up a double digit lead on a 12-0 run that gave Milligan an 18-6 lead with 10:41 remaining in the period. The run was sparked by Mandela's dish to Alisha Mainer (Flag Pond, Tenn.) and capped off by Ashlee Price's (Rogersville, Tenn.)  jump shot.

The second part of the first half saw the Lady Bulldogs chip away at the Milligan lead as they closed the deficit to three points by the 5:30 mark. The Lady Buffs extended it to seven points with three minutes left, but Tennessee Wesleyan was the beneficiary of a an old fashioned four point play to quickly close the gap back to three points. The Lady Bulldogs got as close as one point, before Mainer added the last four Milligan points of the half to take a 32-29 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Milligan was led by Mainer's 11 points and four assists, while Mandela added six points to the Lady Buff cause and grabbed seven rebounds. As a team, Milligan had 10 assists.

The Lady Buffs were 12-of-28 (43%) in the first half from the field and 2-of-10 (20%) from behind the 3-point line, while Tennessee Wesleyan was 10-of-28 (36%) from the field and 3-of-10 (30%) from behind the arc.

The second half saw Milligan jump out to a 36-30 lead, before the Lady Bulldogs cut the gap back to two. Samantha Blevins (Spruce Pine, N.C.) drained a 3-pointer that pushed the gap to five points with less than 16 minutes remaining. However by the 14 minute mark, Tennessee Wesleyan had cut the lead back to two. The next five minutes saw the teams trade shots until a Tennessee Wesleyan 3-pointer gave them their first lead of the afternoon as they led 47-46 with ten minutes left in the game. The Lady Bulldogs went on an 10-0 run as they extended their lead to eight points with eight minutes remaining.

Milligan did not give up as Ali Gardner (Jonesborough, Tenn.) added a basket. However, that was the only basket that Milligan would get from the 10:48 mark until 3:21 left in the contest. Milligan was able to get free throws from Price and Dorian Freeman (Augusta, Ga.) as they trailed 65-51 with four minutes remaining.

In the closing minutes, the Lady Buffs kept charging at the Lady Bulldogs with shots by Mainer and Mandela. However, Milligan was unable to overcome the deficit by the time that the final horn sounded.

The Lady Buffs were led by Mainer's 20 points, eight rebounds, six assists and three blocks, while Mandela had 17 points and 14 rebounds. The sophomore Price had seven points, and Freeman and White had five points apiece.

As a team, Milligan was 24-of-65 (37%) from the field and 4-of-23 (17%) from the arc, while Tennessee Wesleyan was 20-of-46 (44%) from the field and 8-of-18 (44% from behind the 3-point line. The Lady Buffs were 11-of-18 (61%) from the charity stripe and the Lady Bulldogs were 32-of-39 (82%)

“We didn't shot well. Unfortunately, and this is really frustrating for me, we missed so many shots it made us lose our composure,” Head Coach Rich Aubrey said. “Ultimately, that is a bigger thing to lose then your shooting touch. That is an important and a very expensive lesson that we have to learn today. Composure means a lot in life, and our lack of composure prevented us from having a chance to win the game. I don't know if we would have won the game if we would have held together, but when we lost our composure we were done and we not going to win. That is just the way it is.”

Katie Blevins led the way for Tennessee Wesleyan with 32 points. Ragan Elliott and Amy Jo Castor had 17 and 13 points respectively. The win improves the Lady Bulldogs to 16-15 on the year. Tennessee Wesleyan will travel Tuesday evening to either Union College or UVA-Wise for the AAC Championship.

With the loss, Milligan ends the season 20-12, and was a league best 11-5 in the AAC during the regular season. Saturday's loss was the last game in the orange and black for White and fellow senior Brittany Kilgore (Kingsport, Tenn.).