HICKORY, N.C. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team used a dominating second-half performance on the boards and stingy defense to outscore the host Bears 43-27 in the second half en route to the 72-58 South Atlantic Conference win at Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday afternoon.

LMU (7-5, 3-3 SAC) trailed L-R (8-6, 2-4 SAC) by two points at the half and had a 24-11 deficit in rebounding. They out-rebounded the Bears 28-14 in the final two quarters to hold a 39-38 advantage in that statistic at the end of the game. Partly due to the rebounding, LMU also held a 16-6 advantage in second-chance points and a 30-16 advantage in points scored in the paint.

Qua Hines led LMU for the second consecutive contest, this time finishing one shy of her career high with 15 points. Hines went 8-8 at the free throw line, tying Megan Pittman's 8-8 vs. Wingate on Dec. 16, 2015 as the best free throw shooting performance, percentage-wise, of the Krystal Evans era. Ross Mathis chipped in 11 points and Emily Griffith had nine points. Shermeria Quarles came off the bench to lead the Lady Railsplitters with nine rebounds, Hines had seven and Cameryn DuBose had six rebounds.

The loss spoiled a near triple-double from L-R's Kendall Toineeta, who had nine points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Cassidy Joiner led the Bears in scoring with 15 points, while Kennedy Weigt chipped in 11. Madi Suddreth also had double-digit rebounds with 10.

The Lady Railsplitters went 40.9 percent (27-66) from the field, 41.2 percent (7-17) from three-point range and 84.6 percent (11-13) from the free throw line. Lenoir-Rhyne shot 38.2 percent (21-55) from the field, 42.9 percent (9-21) from three-point range and 70.0 percent (7-10) from the free throw line.

Hines found Mathis open on the perimeter and Mathis buried the three-pointer to give LMU the 3-0 lead. The Bears would take the lead before layups by Quarles and Mathis put the Blue and Gray up 9-7 at the media timeout. The teams would swap the lead for the remainder of the frame before a pair of Suddreth free throws gave L-R the 15-13 lead at the end of the period.

The Bears pulled ahead by four early in the second quarter only to see LMU tie it up at 23-23 off a Mathis three-pointer at the 4:53 mark. L-R then went on a 7-0 run over the next two minutes to pull ahead 30-23. Back-to-back three-pointers by Rachel Griffith and Kyndall Caudle cut the lead to 40-29 with 43 seconds left, and L-R's Olivia Nunn would tack on a free throw late to give the Bears the 31-29 lead at the half.

For the last few games, the third quarter has been LMU's best quarter. Today was no exception as they came out on an 11-0 run, held L-R scoreless for two-thirds of the period, and held the Bears to only 28.6 percent from the field for the frame. DuBose tied the game up at 31-31 with the offensive rebound and lay-up on LMU's first possession. Five points from Hines and baskets from Rachel Griffith and Dasia Maxwell gave the Lady Railsplitters the 40-31 lead. The Bears scored 10 points in the final 4:43 of the quarter, but cut get no closer than six points as LMU held the 47-41 lead going into the final period.

Free throws by L-R's Toineeta cut the LMU lead to 47-43 early in the fourth quarter before back-to-back baskets by Quarles sparked an 8-0 run by the Lady Railsplitters. The Bears would cut the lead to seven on a couple of occasions but each time LMU had an answer, including a 7-0 run to close out the game as LMU held on for the 72-58 win.
 
Quick Hits
- LMU improves to 9-14 overall against the Bears and 6-6 in Shuford Gym.

- The 41.2 percent shooting from three-point range was a season-high for LMU and the highest since they hit 48.1 percent vs. Queens in the SAC Tournament back in March.

- After L-R shot 60 percent from the field in the first quarter and 52.2 percent for the half, LMU held them to only 28.1 percent and nine made shots in the second half.

- The 27 second-half points by Lenoir-Rhyne are the fewest given up by LMU in the second half this season. In their game at Shuford Gym last season, LMU held the Bears to 24 second half points. The fewest points in a half allowed by LMU in the Krystal Evans era are 13 by Queens in the 2014-15 season.   
 
Up Next
Anderson comes to the Tex Turner Arena to help LMU ring in the New Year with a 6 p.m. meeting on Jan. 3.  AU comes into the contest with a 9-4 overall record and a 3-2 record in SAC play after defeating Auburn Montgomery 74-43 earlier today.