SALISBURY, N.C. -- The Georgia Southwestern State University women's basketball team advanced in the NCAA Division II Tournament with a 62-59 overtime victory over Lenoir-Rhyne University on Friday evening on the campus of Catawba College. It's the third consecutive season GSW has won an opening round game in the national tournament. Last year, the Lady Hurricanes reached the regional final.

Friday's game featured 14 lead changes and 14 ties. GSW, the fifth seed in the region, trailed by as many as 11 points in the second quarter. GSW began its comeback with back-to-back three-pointers from Kori Tomlin as part of a 10-2 run that cut the margin to two with 1:43 left in the first half. Kayla Grant's layup at the buzzer kept that deficit at two as fourth-seeded Lenoir-Rhyne led 31-29 at the break.

GSW (27-3) began the second half with three straight points from Jashanti Simmons to take a one-point lead. Neither team would lead by more than three for the rest of regulation. GSW held Lenoir-Rhyne without a field goal for the final 4:22 of overtime to secure the win.

Tomlin led the Lady Hurricanes with 17 points, hitting 3 of 4 from long range and adding six rebounds and five assists. Simmons added 16 points and finished with her fourth double-double of the season as she led the team with 10 boards. In addition, she snagged a game-high three steals. Langley made 5 of 7 shots and chipped in 10 points to go with seven rebounds. GSW held a 44-25 edge on the glass and the Lady Hurricanes bench outscored Lenoir-Rhyne's reserves, 14-3.

GSW advances to the regional semifinal on Saturday where they will face top-seeded Catawba at 7:30 p.m. in a rematch from last year's regional final. The two teams also met at the beginning of this season in Americus and Catawba won 78-68 as part of the GSW Classic in both team's second game of the season.