Box Score

MORROW, Ga. -- Miles raced out to a big lead but had to withstand a late surge from Allen to advance to the semifinals of the SIAC Women's Basketball Tournament presented by Toyota. The West No. 1 seed Lady Bears earned the trip to the next round with a 68-63 win over the Yellow Jackets, the East No. 4 seed at The Arena at Southlake.

No. 24 Miles (23-5) set the tone in the opening quarter with some solid defense and outside shooting. The Lady Bears forced 12 turnovers and drained five three pointers. Jaylen Pleasant (six points) had two of them, the last coming at the buzzer, to give Miles a 26-12 lead. When Makayla Rieves (16 points, eight rebounds) scored with 2:51 left in the first half, the lead was 15 points and Miles looked to be in full control of the contest. But Allen began to chip away and trailed just 40-31 at the half.

The Lady Bears lead was as high 13 points in the third quarter but they struggled to put the ball in the hoop, going just 3-of-15 from the floor in the third quarter. But while the Yellow Jackets trailed just 53-47 at the end of the third quarter, they never got closer than four points for the rest of the game. Miles took advantage of all the turnovers (27, which turned into 24 points) and its work in the paint, where it outscored Allen 28-20, to get into the semifinals for the sixth straight season.

Morgan Smith had a game-high 14 points to lead Allen. Samarian Franklin (13 points, four rebounds, four assists), Nayla Wesley (10 points, eight rebounds) were top scorers for the Lady Bears, who will play the winner of the Clark Atlanta-Tuskegee contest on Friday at 10 a.m.