Mary Carson wore her heart on her sleeve.

The tiny, feisty Voorhees point guard spoke quietly and held her head low following Sunday’s 88-69 loss to Lambuth in the Association of Independent Institutions NAIA Championship game on the floor of the Edward Tullis Arena.

“We just let our emotions get the best of us,” Carson said. “But, it is what it is. We have to take it in stride and hope that next year we can make the best of it.”

Carson, who stands at what may be a generous 5-2, led Voorhees (16-16) with 16 points in the loss and earned All-Tournament honors. It was little consolation.

“It’s nice,” she said. “It’s a positive. But, we thought this was the year.”

And, for a point in the second half, it looked as if it was indeed Voorhees’ year. That moment came just after Lambuth appeared to be pulling away, taking a 65-50 lead on a layup by center Donna Lavea with 11:35 to play. But, the scrappy Lady Tigers from the small school in Denmark fought back, pulling to within 67-64 on a free throw by Rashonda Mayfield with 6:45 to go in the game. And, just like that, the Lady Eagles went on a 21-6 run to cap the game and win the title.

“I’m upset, but I’m not upset,” Voorhees head coach Edward Glover said. “I’ve tried to tell this team all year long that they have the talent to play with nationally ranked NAIA teams. We just didn’t get it done in the regular season.”

The difference was depth. Lambuth (26-5), winners of 15 of their last 16 games, had four girls score in double figures, led by All-Tournament performer Chytearra Kintchen, who had a game-high 19 points. Tournament MVP Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Johnson added 18 points and 10 rebounds for Lambuth; Rachel Cunningham had 14 points, 13 of which were scored in the first half, and Kayla Bryant knocked down four 3-pointers to finish with 12. Voorhees had two players score in double figures, Carson and All-Tournament selection Jennifer Perry who finished with 11 points.

“It is tough,” Glover said. “But, you just have to be able to continue. We know what we have to deal with. When I first got into this, we were the EIAC and we were all bout the same level and then this Independent came in. I call it the Conference USA of the NAIA because there are teams from so many different states and all over the country. You know, Lambuth was a last minute push in from the Trans-South Conference. We didn’t know about them until the last minute. I knew I had the talent, but I was worried about the depth so we played people all year long to get the experience. But, when you have youth it takes some time. We will get there.”

Voorhees managed to take the lead several times in the first half, but never by more than one possession, and at the 2:56 mark, with her team leading 35-31, Cunningham scored five straight points to put Lambuth up 40-31. Spurred by the forward, the Lady Eagles took a 46-36 lead into the half.

Carson began the second half scoring with a pair of free throws that closed the gap to 46-38, and at the 8:24 mark a layup by Leghla Holder made it a two-posses ion ball game with Voorhees trailing just 48-43. But, Lambuth managed to up its lead to 10, 54-44, on a 3-pointer by Bryant at the 17:05 mark. Another Bryant 3-pointer with 13:57 to go in the game built Lambuth’s lead to 59-46, and a the layup by Lavea made it a 15-point ball game. With just over 10 minutes to play, Jacquette Cole made a layup for the Lady Tigers that began an 8-0 run that cut the lead to 67-64.

Voorhees then went into a fullcourt press -- they won the turnover battle 27-15 -- but Lambuth responded by going on its run, capped by a drive and layup by Kintchen with 11.5 seconds to go.

“When they made that final push we just didn’t have the defensive effort,” Glover said. “I mean, 88 points is too much to give up. We scored 69 points and that is enough to win. We just needed to make some stops and at times we didn’t get the ones we needed.”

Lambuth shot 45 percent from the field and 48 percent from behind the 3-point line. Voorhees shot an anemic 34 percent from the field and 22 percent from behind the 3-point line. The Lady Tigers did manage to knock down 20 of the 28 free throws they attempted, besting Lambuth’s 55 percent free-throw shooting performance, but the Lady Eagles out-rebounded Voorhees 51-33.

Joining Carson, Perry Johnson and Kintchen on the All-Tournament team were Brittney Byrd of Brescia and Shaniqua Campbell of Morris. Life University (22-10) took the A.I.I. NAIA Men’s tournament title with a 95-81 win over Crichton (21-13). Tournament MVP Tay Barber led Life with 22 points; Ken Moore had 16, Marcus Spivey 15 and Greg Brown 13. Crichton’s Jerranda Wheeler had a game-high 25 points; Johnny McLawhorn had 16 points and Emanuel Winbush scored 11 points.

Joining Barber on the All-Tournament team was Crichton’s Wheeler and Jared Strode, Mountain State’s Andrew Lee and Park’s Herchel Rodgers.

Lambuth (88) -- Chytearra Kintchen 19, Yolanda Johnson 18, Rachel Cunningham 14, Kayla Bryant 12, Franklin 8, Brison 5, Lavea 4, Hufstedler 3, Sanders 2, Robinson 2, Snodgrass 1.

Voorhees (69) -- Mary Carson 16, Jennifer Perry 11, Millhouse 9, Page 9, Robinson 7, Cole 5, Mayfield 4, Johnson 4, Holder 2, Cooper 2.

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