DeLand, Fla. -- Brianti Saunders led all scorers with 31 points as No. 2 seed Stetson defeated No. 7 seed Lipscomb 92-69 in the Atlantic Sun Conference quarterfinals Wednesday night at the Edmunds Center.
The Hatters (23-6) advance to host Northern Kentucky in the conference semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday night. The Norse defeated USC Upstate 64-45.
The Hatters wasted no time jumping on the Lady Bisons on Friday. Stetson led 10-0 after four minutes, then 18-4, 40-18 and eventually 50-22 at halftime. Stetson hit six 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes and shot over 54 percent from the floor.
"We had a great start," senior Jama Sharp said. "We really jumped on them early, and that is huge no matter who you are playing. We wanted to get that energy going throughout the game, so it was great to have a good start today."
Lipscomb (8-21) battled back behind an early 14-0 run in the second half to close the gap to 18, but Stetson pulled away late to claim its seventh win in a row.
"Overall, I was pleased with our play on both ends of the floor," Stetson head coach Lynn Bria said. "I thought we guarded them really well in the first half. In the second half, they started being more aggressive and hitting some open shots, but I thought our players did a good job of keeping their composure."
Saunders was dominant for the second time against Lipscomb this season. The Hatter sophomore scored a career-high 33 points in the previous meeting on Feb. 12. On Friday, she went 11-for-16 from the field and 4-for-7 from behind the arc.
Her quickness helped fuel a strong fastbreak game for Stetson as well.
"We just knew we had to push the ball in transition," Saunders said. "Lipscomb is a pretty good team, so we knew we had to push the ball, take open shots, attack the gaps and kick it to whoever was open."
Sharp finished with 12 points and seven assists, including several home run passes down the court to center Amber Porter. Porter finished with a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. She also collected four blocks, including the 200th rejection of her career.
"I thought Amber was very effective," Bria said. "She had a couple of and-ones that were big, strong power moves. She also did a good job of kicking it out. I thought Bri and Jama both had really good games, and I thought Aisha (Turner) came off the bench and hit some key shots."
Turner went 6-for-7 from the floor for a season-high 14 points. Sarah Sagerer chipped in 11 rebounds and three blocks.
Stetson shot 54.1 percent for the game and held Lipscomb to 34.3 percent shooting. Both teams grabbed 41 rebounds apiece. The Hatters tied a season-high with nine blocked shots.
Notes: Stetson held a 46-12 advantage in points in the paint and a 18-4 advantage in fastbreak points ... Stetson averaged 92 points per game in three wins over Lipscomb this season ... Saunders has now topped 30 points three times in her career ... Amber Porter picked up her seventh double-double of the season ... Stetson improved to 21-0 when scoring 65 points in a game this season.
