KINGSPORT, Tenn. – On Friday night, the Milligan University women's basketball team had a chance to punch their ticket to the Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game with a win over the No. 4-seeded University of Pikeville (Ky.) Bears. In a game that never had a lead of greater than eight points, the Buffaloes pushed ahead in the fourth quarter to take an eventual 64-61 win to get into the Final on Saturday.

In the opening frame, Milligan started down 4-0, but they erased that deficit over the next minute-and-a-half with a pair of baskets from Semaj Clark. With a 9-8 lead at the 3:40 mark, the Lady Buffs scored seven of the next nine points on a three by Callie Reeder and a pair of layups by Lina Lyon, taking a 16-10 lead with 1:11 left to play in the first. Pikeville would score a bucket with seven seconds remaining, cutting their deficit to four points heading into the second quarter.

It was MU that scored first to start the second, as Lyon knocked down a floater in the paint to give the Buffaloes a 18-12 lead with 8:57 on the clock. Milligan was able to keep the Bears at an arm's length over the course of the period, never holding a lead of fewer than four points in the quarter. Milligan reached their largest lead of eight points at the 2:15 mark when Lexi Ervin made a fastbreak layup, necessitating a Pikeville timeout. Eventually, the Buffs would take a 33-25 lead into the intermission.

The Bears pushed back in a major way in the third quarter, eventually usurping the lead from the Buffaloes 39-38 after a 14-5 run to start the frame. Milligan tallied only eight points total in the quarter, as they struggled the shoot the rock with any consistency, shooting just 2-of-12. With that, the fourth quarter would decide the winner of the contest, as the score was all knotted up at 41-41 with 10 minutes to be played.

To begin the quarter, Milligan put up the first six points, jumping in front 47-41 behind buckets from Clark, Lyon and Makenzie Bremer. Pikeville battled back with five straight points to make it 47-46 in Milligan's favor with 6:35 left. At a 49-49 tie with 4:52 to go, the Buffs made a 8-1 push to take a 57-51 lead with 1:59 to go. The Bears would try to make a push, but they would not have the ability to get closer than three points at the end of the contest, cementing Milligan's place in the AAC title game with a 64-61 win.

Clark was Milligan's top scorer in the battle, dropping in 17 points on a 5-of-11 shooting night with one three-point jumper. She also went 6-of-8 at the free-throw line. Lyon tallied 14 points on a 6-of-12 conversion rate, while sinking her only shot from beyond the arc. Bremer (10) and Reeder (10) also scored in double figures, combining for a 7-of-19 shooting clip.

Falling just one assist short of an all offensive double-double was Clark, as she passed out nine of the Buffaloes' 16 assists in the win. Kenzie Campbell had two dimes, and Lyon, Bremer, Ervin, Naomi Atchley and Caroline Krueger posted the remaining five.

Clark did manage to tally a double-double, nabbing 11 rebounds and falling just the single assist shy of an AAC Tournament triple-double. Reeder hauled in seven backboards, followed by Campbell with five. Atchley snatched four, while both Lyon and McKenna Myers reeled in three. Krueger rebounded the ball twice, and Bremer and Ervin both had one board, assuring every Milligan player who stepped on the floor had at least one rebound.

Atchley posted a pair of blocks in the win, while Campbell had both a block and a steal. Myers had one theft and Reeder tallied the other rejection for the Buffaloes in their triumph.

Milligan (22-7, 19-1 AAC) will now battle the No. 3-seeded Reinhardt University (Ga.) Eagles for AAC supremacy on Saturday, Feb. 28 inside the MeadowView Marriott Convention Center & Conference Resort in Kingsport, Tenn. at 3 p.m.