LAKELAND, Fla. (March 12, 2021) – The Warriors nearly completed their quest to win a game in the NAIA women's basketball national tournament for the first time in program history with a great comeback effort in the fourth quarter, but in the end, the third-seeded Webber International University women's basketball team was unable to finish it off and eventually fell to second-seeded Bryan College (Tenn.) by a final score of 67-64 during the NAIA National Championship Opening Round on Friday night inside the Furnace on the campus of Southeastern University.

Webber trailed by 18 points three minutes into the third quarter at 40-22 and then trailed 54-40 in the final few seconds of the third quarter before LeAndra Franklin hit a midrange jumper at the buzzer to make it a 12-point game at 54-42.

That was just the beginning of what was yet another epic comeback attempt for the Warriors this postseason as Eletra Graham opened the fourth quarter by hitting her third 3-pointer of the second half to get Webber back to within single digits at 54-45 with nine and half minutes left to play.

Down 10 at 61-51 with a little bit over seven minutes remaining, Webber continued to chip away and got to within seven at 62-55 on a layup by Amaya Small assisted by Paris Copeland with 5:30 on the clock.

Then, neither team would score for nearly the next three minutes of action until a free throw by Franklin made it 62-56 with 2:37 left.

After a miss on Franklin's second free throw attempt, Copeland got the offensive rebound, and then Graham drained a 3-pointer from the corner on the inbounds play to make it only a one-possession game at 62-59.

With a little over one minute left to play, the 20th turnover of the game for Bryan led to a layup by Copeland assisted by Franklin to make it 62-61.

Bryan proceeded to hit a 3-pointer with 52.5 seconds left, but fortunately, Dasia Wandick answered with a three of her own to keep it at a one-point margin at 65-64 with 44.2 seconds to go.

Lastly, after a shot clock violation by Bryan with only 12.9 seconds remaining, Webber had a chance to win it, but instead turned it over and had to foul the Lady Lions with 1.4 seconds left, dashing the Warriors' hopes away in the blink of an eye.

In all, Webber outscored Bryan 22-13 in the fourth quarter and 44-31 in the second half. The Warriors also shot an awesome 58.1 percent (18-31) from the field and were 6-for-8 (75.0 percent) from three in the second half while Bryan was only 9-for-32 (28.1 percent) from the field and 4-for-16 (25.0 percent) from three over the final 20 minutes.

Small led Webber with 14 points and six rebounds while Wandick had 13 points and four rebounds, and Franklin and Graham both added 12 points. Franklin also contributed with five steals, four assists and four rebounds.

Copeland finished with eight points and six boards, and Samantha Pacheco recorded five points and five assists.

Earlier in the game, Webber led 2-0 on a layup by Small, 4-0 on a steal and a layup by Franklin, and 6-2 on another layup by Small while the Warriors also forced Bryan into five turnovers in the first four minutes of action.

With only one minute left in the first quarter, a layup by Copeland made it 13-12 Warriors, but from there, Bryan ended the first period up 17-13 and then opened up the second quarter with a basket to make it a 7-0 run and put the Lady Lions up 19-13.

With 7:17 left before halftime, another steal by Franklin led to a layup by Wandick to make it 20-16, and then Wandick scored again on the assist by Copeland to make it 25-18 with 4:13 left before the break.

Unfortunately, Bryan proceeded to go on an 11-0 run featuring three 3-pointers to double up the Warriors' score at 36-18 with 1:35 to go until halftime.

A layup by Franklin in the final 40 seconds of the first half stopped the run for Bryan, however, Webber finished the first half shooting only 9-for-38 (23.7 percent) from the field and was 0-for-6 from three. Bryan, meanwhile, was 11-for-27 (40.7 percent) from the field, 4-for-12 (33.3 percent) from three and 10-for-12 (83.3 percent) from the free throw line, and outrebounded the Warriors 31-17 overall. Webber did force 10 first half turnovers however.

After making what was its fifth appearance in program history in the NAIA women's basketball national tournament, Webber officially finished its 2021 season 17-11 overall. Bryan, meanwhile, improved to 18-2, and will now advance to play against top-seeded and No. 3 nationally-ranked Campbellsville University (Ky.) in the Lakeland B Bracket Championship game.