Lady Railsplitters' Comeback Falls Short Against Newberry

Box Score

HARROGATE, TN - After allowing Newberry to run off the first 10 points of the game, the Lady Railsplitters battled back midway through the first half of Wednesday night's game with second conference ranked Newberry College before falling 64-61 in regulation.

LMU managed to tie the game at the 11:36 mark on a jumper by Carolyn Mills.  From there, LMU and Newberry went toe-to-toe for the remainder of the game with Newberry leading most of the way.  In fact, the game was so close down the stretch that LMU had not one but two 3-point opportunities to tie the game and send it into overtime.  Both of sophomore guard Amberly O'Dells' last-second 3's were off the mark and Newberry escaped Harrogate with the victory to improve to 4-1 in South Atlantic Conference play.

Although the Lady Railsplitters did a good job of limiting the offensive output of Newberry senior center Anita Bulcher to only five points, teammate and forward LeAnne Watson cut loose on the inside to lead NC in scoring with 24 points on 10-19 shooting from the field and 4-6 from free throw range.  Guard Helen McKinney was equally as damaging from the outside as she chipped in 15 points, nine of which came outside the perimeter.  Teammate Amy Browne was the only other Newberry player to earn double figures as she finished the game with 10 points.  On the glass, the nation's leading rebounder Anita Bulcher pulled 12 boards to help the Newberry cause.

LMU received a shot in the arm offensively from junior guard Carolyn Mills.  Mills came off the bench to lead the Lady Railsplitters in scoring with 24 points on 7-15 shooting from the field and by hitting 9-9 shots from the free throw line.  Teammate Dayshalee Salaman added 12 points in the effort, six of which came from the charity stripe.  Junior center Blandine Kikwiki Mamuku took top rebounding honors for the night by pulling 13 boards.

Newberry moves to 11-4 overall and 4-1 in league play, while the Lady Railsplitters fall to 4-10 on the year and 2-3 in the South Atlantic Conference.  NC will have this weekend off but will host Tusculum College next Wednesday at 6:00 p.m., while the Lady Railsplitters travel to Hickory, North Carolina this Saturday for a bout with the Bears of Lenoir-Rhyne University.  Tip-off is set for 6:00 p.m.

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