HARROGATE, Tenn. -- On the four-year anniversary of their last 100-point outburst, the Lady Railsplitters (2-1, 1-0 SAC) crested that summit again in a 100-90 victory over the visiting Mars Hill Lions (1-2, 0-1 SAC) in the South Atlantic Conference opener Wednesday evening at Tex Turner Arena.
 
Five different players finished in double figures, while 11 of the 14 players who appeared in the contest recorded at least two points for the Lady Railsplitters. Lincoln Memorial finished the contest shooting an even 50 percent from the field, connecting on 40 of their 80 shot attempts, while going 15-for-21 from the charity stripe for a 71.4 percent effort. It was exactly four years to the day when the Lady Railsplitters last scored 100 points as LMU vanquished Southern Arkansas 100-77 on November 19, 2010. 
 
Stephanie Smith (La Vergne, Tenn.) and Kiara Rawls (Killeen, Texas) were both held scoreless in the first half after being forced to the bench with early foul trouble, but Smith tallied 16 points and Rawls added 15 in the second stanza to lead the Lady Railsplitters. Smith also picked up seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, while Rawls led LMU with five assists. Aisjah Lee (Louisville, Ky.) poured in 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting, while Katrina Ottesen (Chandler, Ariz.) chipped in 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting. Kortnay Cox (Murfreesboro, Tenn.) contributed 10 points, and Megan Pittman (Libery, Ky.) pitched in nine points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Lakeisha Beasley (College Park, Ga.) tallied nine points in just 11 minutes off the bench.
 
Foul trouble threatened to derail the Lady Railsplitters early as Smith and Rawls, the team's two leading scorers, were sent to the bench with two fouls apiece before the first half reached the 16:00 mark. Lincoln Memorial's second unit kept the ship afloat in their absence, though, as the Lady Railsplitters' bench outscored Mars Hill's substitutes by a commanding 31-4 margin in the first half alone. That effort was led by Lee's 11 points, but sophomore Josey Harding (Middletown, Ohio) chipped in seven points, three boards and two blocks in 10 first-half minutes. Harding had appeared in only five minutes total in the Lady Railsplitters' two previous games.
 
A pair of runs helped the Lady Railsplitters take a 44-42 lead into the halftime break. Trailing 24-20 after a Paige Chavis jumper at the 12:08 mark, Lincoln Memorial churned out an 8-0 run, paced by Lee's five points, to assume a 28-24 lead. Mars Hill regained a 34-32 advantage on Nicole Marshall jumper with 6:50 left, but the Lady Railsplitters responded with a 9-0 run, capped by a Beasley layup, to take a 41-34 lead.
 
The return of Smith and Rawls in the second half immediately sparked the Lady Railsplitters, as a 50-48 cushion turned into a 66-54 lead by the 13:23 mark with an early 16-6 run. Rawls paced the Lady Railsplitters with five points over that flurry, while Cox and Smith added four points apiece. 
 
The Lady Railsplitters continued to tighten their grasp on the game as a bucket by Rawls and an offensive rebound and a put back by Pittman pushed LMU out to its largest lead of the contest at 84-66 with just 6:58 remaining. Another Beasley layup with 3:15 showing on the game clock maintained LMU's 18 point lead, but back-to-back three-pointers by Camille Glymph and a three-point play for Kelsey Espinosa composed a 9-0 Mars Hill run that closed the gap to 92-83 with 2:14 remaining. However, Stephanie Smith halted that run by reigning in an offensive rebound and rolling in the put back to push LMU back in front 96-85. The Lady Railsplitters never led by less than eight the remainder of the contest.
 
The win avenged a 69-66 loss to Mars Hill in last season's meeting in Tex Turner Arena on January 22, 2014.
 
The Lady Railsplitters won in spite of a spectacular offensive display by the visiting Lions, who finished shooting 50 percent in the contest with a 34-for-68 mark. Camille Glymph and Paige Chavis combined for 55 points as Glymph led all players with 30 points on 11-for-19 shooting, while Chavis racked up 25 points on an 11-for-20 effort. Cadence Wilmoth and Kelsey Espinosa added 17 and 12 points apiece, respectively.
 
The Lady Railsplitters outscored the Lions 62-42 in the paint and won the rebounding battle by a commanding 45-25 margin.
 
Lincoln Memorial continues South Atlantic Conference play on Saturday, November 22, traveling to Charlotte, N.C. for a league bout against the Queens Royals. Tip-off in the contest is scheduled for 2 p.m.