GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- A 26-8 spurt nearly erased every bit of a 21-point deficit, but it was not enough as the Lady Railsplitters (12-11, 9-8 SAC) felt defeat for the eighth straight time on the road in an 84-78 loss to the Tusculum Pioneers (6-14, 6-11 SAC) on Wednesday night in Greeneville, Tenn.
 
Turnovers and poor defensive rebounding buried Lincoln Memorial in a hole that ultimately proved too much to overcome. The Lady Railsplitters committed 24 turnovers, which Tusculum converted into 31 points. LMU and Tusculum grabbed exactly 43 rebounds apiece, but the Pioneers hauled in 21 offensive rebounds and collected 31 second-chance points off of those opportunities. The two teams finished with almost identical shooting percentages, but the Pioneers was granted 15 more field-goal attempts over the course of the game.
 
And yet, the Lady Railsplitters almost found a way to overcome those shortcomings with a monster closing run. The Pioneers led 41-31 at the half and they continued to hammer down on the accelerator as the second half waned on, taking the largest lead of the contest at 71-50 on a pair of Maelyn Cutshaw free throws with 6:44 left.
 
That's when Lincoln Memorial began its steep uphill climb. Six straight points from Sydnie Anderson (Cleveland, Tenn.) and a Britney Guy (Locust Grove, Ga.) free throw trimmed the deficit to 71-57 by the five-minute mark. Tusculum answered by scoring six of the next nine points to push the lead back to 77-61, but a 7-0 run brought the Lady Railsplitters within single digits with 2:41 remaining.
 
After two Shynese Whitener free throws made it a 79-68 game in the next possession, Ashley Pritchett (Decatur, Ga.) nailed a jumper and Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) drained a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 79-73 with 1:52 left. The Lady Railsplitters got a stop on the defensive end and missed back-to-back open triples before Coker took advantage of LMU's third offensive rebound of that possession by converting a three-pointer. Cutshaw pushed the lead back to four points by going 1-for-2 at the charity stripe, but Kiara Rawls (Killeen, Texas) rolled in a layup to pull the Lady Railsplitters to within two at 80-78 with 27 seconds left.
 
Lincoln Memorial would not score another point, though, missing both of its field-goal attempts in the final 25 ticks. Tusculum, meanwhile, went 4-for-6 at the free throw line over that stretch to ice the game.
 
Coker hit double figures for the eighth straight game, matching the team-lead with 16 points on a 3-of-7 mark from long distance to go along with five rebounds and three assists. Rawls also poured in 16 points, reaching that mark on a 4-of-7 clip from the field and an 8-for-10 effort at the free throw line. Anderson reset her career-high with 12 points, knocking down 7-of-8 free throws. She added six rebounds and four steals.
 
The Lady Railsplitters finished shooting 40.4 percent (23-for-57) from the field, 31.8 percent (7-for-22) from three and 80.6 percent (25-for-31) from the free throw line. Wednesday marked only the second time this season the Lady Railsplitters have hit over 80 percent of their free throw attempts in a game.
 
Behind Rawls and Anderson, Lincoln Memorial's bench outscored Tusculum's reserves 44-24.
 
Rainey Story was responsible for nearly all of those bench points as she paced the Pioneers with 22 points in 27 minutes off of the bench. Story hit eight of her 16 shot attempts and grabbed six rebounds. Shynese Whitener recorded 16 points, but needed 17 shots to reach that mark. Maelyn Cutshaw was 6-for-13 from the field while compiling 21 points. Blakely Burleson added 14 points and five assists while playing all 40 minutes for the Pioneers.
 
Tusculum shot 40.3 percent (29-for-72) from the floor and 46.7 percent (7-for-15) from three.
 
The Lady Railsplitters fell for the eighth consecutive time on the road, a streak that dates back to a loss at Anderson on November 25.
 
Lincoln Memorial returns to Tex Turner Arena Saturday for one of just two remaining home games in the regular-season schedule, welcoming the Lenoir-Rhyne Bears for a 2 p.m. tip.