HARROGATE, Tenn. – Despite one of their poorer shooting nights of the season and 15 turnovers, the No. 5/8 Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team was able to pull out the 66-65 win over Tusculum Wednesday evening.

LMU, who are now 21-1 overall and 16-1 in the South Atlantic Conference, are ranked eighth in the latest WBCA/USA Today Coaches' Poll and fifth in the D2SIDA National Media Poll.

Senior Megan Pittman (Liberty, Ky.) led the team in scoring with 14 points and also pulled down a team-high nine rebounds and dished out four assists. Shea Coker (Knoxville, Tenn.) added in 13 points while Sydnie Anderson (Cleveland, Tenn.) chipped in 11 points.

Tusculum was led by Kasey Johnson's 20 points and nine rebounds. Sydney Wilson added in 11 points.

For the game, LMU shot 22-of-65 (33.8%) from the field, 7-21 (33.3%) from three-point range and 15-of-23 (65.2%) from the free throw line. Tusculum went 22-of-55 (40.0%) from the field, 5-of-20 (25.0%) from behind the arc and 16-of-21 (76.2%) from the charity stripe. The Lady Railsplitters out-rebounded the Pioneers by a 43-36 margin.

LMU opened the game with a 9-2 run. They maintained a three-to-four point lead throughout most of the first quarter until a Wilson jumper gave TC the 16-15 lead with 22 seconds remaining. Two free throws by Emily Griffith (Oliver Springs, Tenn.) put LMU ahead at the end of the quarter, 17-16.

Five quick points by Pittman put LMU ahead 22-16 with 9:08 remaining in the half. The Lady Railsplitters would go on a long scoring drought that allowed the Pioneers to battle back and take a 34-32 lead with 2:25 left. The Pioneers then pulled ahead just before the half to take a 38-35 lead into the locker room.

Back to back TC baskets and a free throw gave the Pioneers their largest lead of the game, 43-35, with 8:24 left in the third period. LMU then took advantage of a TC scoring drought to go on a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 46-43 with 3:25 remaining. An Anderson three-pointer and a layup by Josey Harding (Middletown, Ohio) would tie the game at 48-48 with 2:00 left in the quarter and a three-pointer by Ross Mathis (Greer, S.C) gave LMU the 51-48 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.

The Lady Railsplitters pulled out to a 54-50 lead off an Emily Griffith three-pointer before back-to-back Pioneer baskets tied the game again at 54-54. Pittman would hit a short jump shot to put LMU ahead 56-54 before TC would go on a 6-0 run to lead 60-56 with 5:21 left. Tusculum would go up by five, 63-58, before three points from Pittman and a Coker trey gave LMU the 64-63 lead. Free throws by TC's Jasmine Queen gave the Pioneers the 65-64 lead with a little over a minute left.

After LMU missed a couple of attempts, Megan Pittman was fouled with 13 seconds left and hit both free throw to put LMU ahead 66-65. LMU missed a shot and Harding rebounded and was fouled with 2.8 seconds remaining. She missed both but Tusculum was out of timeouts and therefore unable to advance the ball to their end of the court so they had to go the length of the floor. The desperation shot from mid-court missed and LMU held on for their 21^st win of the season.

LMU will travel to Newberry, South Carolina for a Saturday SAC matchup against the Newberry Wolves. The Lady Railsplitters defeated Newberry 79-53 on Dec. 17 in the Tex Turner Arena. Live stats, video and audio links will be available at www.lmurailsplitters.com.