McDowell and Passmore Lead Anderson to SAC Women's Basketball Tournament Title

ROCK HILL, S.C. (theSAC.com) – For the third time in program history and first time since 2019, the Anderson Trojans are the South Atlantic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament Champions. The third-seeded Trojans held off a late rally from top seed Coker to win the title by a final score of 64-58.

The Trojans, who hadn't won a tournament since 2019, entered the tournament on a 9-game winning streak and added three more wins to extend the streak to 12 straight.  

Anderson dominated the first half and took a 39-21 lead into the break. However, the Cobras would not go down without a fight. Appearing in a SAC Championship game for the first time in program history, Coker came out of the break and turned the defensive pressure up. In the third quarter, they cut the lead to seven.

A Rose Gravel bucket at the 3:52 mark put Anderson up 63-49 but Coker again rallied. A 9-0 spurt pulled the Cobras within five but the rally ran out of time as the Trojans secured the title.

Diamond McDowell led Anderson with 22 points and added 14 rebounds. She had a double-double in each tournament game and averaged 23 points and nearly 15 rebounds per contest in three tournament games. Zamiya Passmore added 21 points and five rebounds.

Shawnteanna Tillman lead Coker with 25 points on 9-of-18 shooting and added five rebounds. Mya Wasswa added 10 points for the Cobras and Dasia Ferguson had eight. The Anderson defense held Coker to just 3-of-15 from downtown and 33.9 percent shooting from the field.

The Trojans clinch the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament with today's win. The full tournament field will be unveiled on Sunday night on NCAA.com.

A seven-person All-Tournament team was named with McDowell being named the tournament MVP. 

All-Tournament Team:

Tori Rutherford, Carson-Newman
Laney Beale, Wingate
Shawnteeana Tillman, Coker
Mya Wasswa, Coker
Ashlyn Sheridan, Anderson
Zamiya Passmore, Anderson
Diamond McDowell, Anderson