AIKEN, S.C. – A late comeback effort by the No. 24/12 Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team fell short as 15th-ranked Lander held on for the 65-60 win Friday evening in the SAC vs. Peach Belt Conference Challenge.

The Lady Railsplitters (0-1) will now have to quickly regroup as they face host USC Aiken to close out the Challenge tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m.

Shea Coker led the way for LMU with 14 points, including a 3-for-5 performance from three-point range. Rachel Griffith chipped in 12 points while Dasia Maxwell pulled down a career-high eight rebounds.

Lander (1-0) was led by Lea Petit's 14 points. Breshay Johnson had 13 points, while Jessica Harris and Christal Williams chipped in 11 points apiece.

As a team, LMU was relatively cold from the floor, hitting 32.4 percent (22-68) of their shots from the field, 26.3% (5-19) from behind the three-point arc and 64.7% (11-17) from the free throw line.

The Bearcats did slightly better offensively, going 38.5% (20-52) from the field, 31.3% (5-16) from three-point range and 69 percent (20-29) from the charity stripe.

The Lady Railsplitters picked up right where they left off last season on the rebounding end, out-rebounding Lander by a 50-37 margin.

Both teams struggled with turnovers the entire game, with Lander turning the ball over 23 times and LMU 24.

Early on, it looked like the Lady Railsplitters would put the game away quickly as they used a 16-3 run to roll out to a double-digit lead midway through the first quarter. Freshman Maggie Jachimczuk started things off as her first career basket was also LMU's first points of the season and put the team ahead 2-0. After a Lander three-pointer the two teams traded baskets until a three-pointer by Maxwell sparked the run that would eventually put the Lady Railsplitters ahead 21-10. Lander would cut the lead to 25-15 at the end of the quarter.

The Bearcats would roar back in the second quarter via a 19-4 run of their own to pull out to a 34-29 lead. A jump shot and a three-pointer by Rachel Griffith enabled the Lady Railsplitters to even up the game at 34-34 going in to halftime.

LMU would open up the third quarter by taking a 37-34 lead, only to see Lander utilize a Petit jumper and some free throws to regain the lead by the mid-quarter media timeout. A pair of three pointers and a couple of free throws enabled the Bearcats to pull away to a seven point lead heading into the final stanza.

The Lady Railsplitters would cut the lead to 50-47 with a little over nine minutes remaining on a Coker three-pointer, but Lander then answered back with six quick points to lead 56-47 with 6:26 left in the game. Three times down the stretch LMU would cut the lead to five only to see Lander score a basket or get two free throws to lead by seven again. A Coker trey cut the lead to 64-60 with less than 30 seconds left and Lander would miss three of four free throws in the time remaining, but the Lady Railsplitters were unable to get any shots to fall down the stretch.