JEFFERSON CITY, Tenn. -- USC Aiken (1-1) erased a 12-point second half deficit to hand the Lady Railsplitters (1-1) a 77-70 loss on Sunday afternoon at Carson-Newman University's Holt Fieldhouse in the SAC vs. Peach Belt Conference Challenge. The loss denied Lincoln Memorial the opportunity to start 2-0 for the first time since the 2003-04 campaign.
Kiara Rawls (Killeen, Texas) led the Lady Railsplitters with 17 points and five assists in 36 minutes, while
Stephanie Smith (La Vergne, Tenn.) poured in 16 points, eight rebounds and three blocks in 22 minutes before fouling out with 3:29 left to play.
Aisjah Lee (Louisville, Ky.) pitched in 14 points, five boards and three steals in 26 minutes off the bench.
Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) and
Ashley Pritchett (Decatur, Ga.) scored six points apiece, while Pittman collected seven rebounds and Pritchett added six.
The Lady Railsplitters finished the contest shooting 39.4 percent, but they were an even 50 percent inside of the three-point arc with a 25-for-50 clip. Lincoln Memorial was never able to find its touch from beyond the three-point line, knocking down just one of its 16 attempts for a 6.2 percent effort. The Lady Railsplitters dominated the interior, outscoring the Pacers 48-26 in the paint while accruing a 48-34 rebounding advantage.
A Mackenzie Reese layup at the 16:46 mark propped the Pacers to a 10-6 lead, but two Smith buckets and a pair of Pittman free throws evened the score at 12-12 with 13:43 remaining in the opening period. USC Aiken regained the lead at 15-12 before a three-point play by Lee at the 10:32 mark pulsed the Lady Railsplitters in front 16-15. A bucket by Stephanie Ball restored the Pacers to a one-point advantage, but the Lady Railsplitters responded with a 6-0 run, capped by a
Britney Guy (Locust Grove, Ga.) layup at the 7:51 mark, to take a 22-17 lead.
The Pacers cut the Lady Railsplitters' lead back to one three different times over the ensuing passage of play, with the final occurrence coming at the 5:38 juncture on a Reese layup to make it a 26-25 ballgame. The Lady Railsplitters followed up that score by churning out another 6-0 run, paced by Lee's four points over that span, to assume a 32-25 edge with 2:56 left in the half. Rawls knocked down a pair of buckets in the final three minutes of the half to send the Lady Railsplitters into the locker room with a 38-31 cushion.
The Lady Railsplitters continued to extend the lead early in the second half as a Smith layup at the 16:09 mark pushed the LMU lead to 44-36. After a free throw by Rawls made it 47-40, Emry Tsitouris rolled in a layup and Amaura Brandt drained a three-pointer to pull the Pacers to within two at 47-45 with 12:40 left. From there, the Lady Railsplitters ripped off a 10-0 scoring run over the next two minutes, carried by four points apiece from Smith and
Samantha Satterlee (Junction City, Kan.), to assume a commanding 57-45 edge.
That, however, would be the largest lead of the contest for the Lady Railsplitters, as Kate Duff drained a three-pointer to spark a 10-0 rebuttal by the Pacers. Ball's three-pointer concluded the flurry at the 6:56 mark and cut LMU's lead to 57-55. The Lady Railsplitters clung to their slim lead for several possessions, as a Pittman layup extended LMU"s cushion to 63-59 with 4:52 left, but the Pacers used a another three by Duff and two Mariah Durian free throws to take a 64-63 lead.
The Lady Railsplitters would not hold a lead again in the contest as a Ball layup and a free throw by Duff extended the USC Aiken advantage to 67-63 with just 3:29 remaining in regulation. Lincoln Memorial closed to within two after Lee hit a three-pointer with 1:57 showing on the game clock, but Ball responded with a three-pointer just 22 seconds later to put the Pacers back on top 73-68. Ball and Durian closed out USC Aiken's come-from-behind victory by going 4-for-4 at the charity stripe in the final 43 seconds.
Turnovers proved to be the difference in the contest as the Lady Railsplitters gave away possession 25 times, and those turnovers were converted into 25 points by the Pacers. Rawls turned the ball over eight times while Smith did so seven times. On the other side, the Lady Railsplitters forced 17 turnovers and turned those into 17 points.
The Pacers finished shooting 36.5 percent (23-for-63) from the field and 34.3 percent (8-for-23) from beyond the three-point arc. Mariah Durian and Mackenzie Reese led USC Aiken with 16 points apiece. Reese added seven rebounds while Durian contributed four boards, two assists and a pair of steals. Ball and Duff added 14 and 11 points apiece off the bench. Duff led all players in the contest with six steals.
Sunday's meeting was the first between the Lady Railsplitters and USC Aiken Pacers since the 1991-92 campaign. The Pacers took a 2-1 lead in the series with the victory.
The Lady Railsplitters are scheduled to make their Tex Turner Arena debut and open South Atlantic Conference play on Wednesday, November 19, hosting the Mars Hill Lions for a 6 p.m. tip. LMU aims to avenge a 69-66 loss to Mars Hill in last season's meeting between the two squads in Harrogate, Tenn.
