LMU Falls To Middle Tennessee In Exhibtion Action 94-57

Box Score

MURFREESBORO, TN -- Lincoln Memorial University sophomore Amberly O'Dell (Argos, IN) had a career night, but a surge late in the first half by Middle Tennessee was the difference as LMU fell to the Blue Raiders 94-57 in exhibition action Monday evening.

O'Dell nailed a 3-pointer at 17:28 to give the visiting Lady Railsplitters a 5-4 lead. She connected on two more as part of a 9-2 run over the next minute and a half as LMU built an 11-6 cushion with 16:04 remaining in the first half.

Middle Tennessee then put together a run of their own to pull out to the 50-25 halftime lead.

The Blue Raiders grew their margin to as high as 39, 66-27, within the opening four minutes of the second half keyed by a pair of Anne Marie Lanning 3-pointers. LMU used treys from O'Dell and Destiny Williams (Upper Marlboro, MD) over the next four minutes in an attempt to claw back into the contest, but Middle Tennessee kept its distance by countering with a pair of jumpers from Dana Garrett.

Dayshalee Salaman (Carolina, Puerto Rico) trimmed the margin to 31, 74-43, with 8:45 left, but MTSU's Kortni Jones drained a couple of long-range shots to help push the lead back to 39, 82-43, at the 5:35 mark.

Clark's old-fashioned three-point play at 5:04 gave the Blue Raiders their largest advantage of the game at 42 points, 85-43. O'Dell hit her seventh and final 3-pointer for the Lady Railsplitters with 13 seconds remaining to again close the gap to 36 before MT's Icelyn Elie iced the win with a free throw with three ticks left.

It was a defensive struggle as LMU forced the Blue Raiders into 23 turnovers.  MT's pressure defense created 37 turnovers on the night.

"We turned the ball over 37 times and you are not going to beat many teams when you do that. MT is a great team and ranked in the Top 25 for a reason and they deserve that ranking. I am glad we had a chance to come and play a team as physical and smart as they are. Obviously, we saw a lot of weaknesses that we have. We have to take care of the ball. When we did run our offense tonight, we got some points, but we do have some things we can improve on," said LMU coach Stephanie Smith after the game.

O'Dell led all players with 23 points on the strength of her seven 3-pointers. Salaman added in 12 points and six assists.  Williams had a game-high seven assists for the Lady Railsplitters.

When asked about O'Dell and Williams after the game, Smith praised her backcourt.

"Amberly O'Dell is a pure shooter. She is an Indiana kid who really knows the game. She did a great job offensively but she needs to work on her ball handling. She had 10 turnovers tonight. Destiny Williams is a JuCo transfer who will be a good point guard for us. Our team basically just started playing together a few months ago. So I think once we kind of jell together, we will be a team that will give the others in our league a run for their money," said Smith.

Five Middle Tennessee players reached double figures, led by Jackie Pickel's 18 points. Alysha Clark added 16 points with a game-high 17 rebounds, while Lanning also contributed 16 points. Jones and Garrett each poured in 10 points off the bench.

The Lady Railsplitters will open the season with a pair of home games next week. First up is the season-opener Nov. 17 against Berea College and then the next night LMU will host local rival King College.  Both contests will tip=off at 6 p.m. in the Tex Turner Arena.

Which fall sport are you looking forward to the most?