King Hands Lady Railsplitters First Loss Of The Season

Carolyn Mills makes a move on the King defenders. Photo by Ray Welch.

Box Score

HARROGATE, TN - On Wednesday night, the Tornado of King College swept through the Tex Turner Arena and caught the Lady Railsplitter basketball team by surprise when KC handed the LMU women their first loss of the season 63-58.

Only 24 hours prior to Wednesday night's game, the LMU women pounded NAIA opponent Berea College 91-52 in the season opener.  Wednesday night's loss was a polar opposite performance by Stephanie Smith's Lady Railsplitters who seemed to do no wrong in the first game of the season on Tuesday.

After spotting King a 5-0 lead, the Lady Railsplitters seemed their own worst enemy most of the night.  LMU finished the game with 24 turnovers and was never able to get on track offensively for the remainder of the game.  To make matters worse, the Lady Railsplitters were only able to get to the free throw line eight times all night, which hurt the offensive output significantly. 

Sophomore Dayshalee Salaman (Carolina, Puerto Rico) led all LMU players with 18 points, while Amberly O'Dell (Argo, IN) and Carolyn Mills (Nashville, TN) each scored 10 points in the loss.  For the second consecutive night, O'Dell led the lady Railsplitters in rebounding with eight boards. 

King's offensive attack was well balanced and led by forward Ashley Deans who finished with a game-high 26 points.  Teammate Beth Raby gave the Tornado an equal inside-outside attack by putting 16 points which came for the most part from the perimeter, as Beth Bosse put in another 12 on the inside while grabbing a game-best 13 rebounds.

King improves to 1-1 while LMU falls to 1-1 and will now try to regroup with preparation for Tuesday evenings first road-game of the year against the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville, Indiana.  Next week's game with USI is set for an 8:00 p.m. tip-off in Evansville.

Which fall sport are you looking forward to the most?