SALISBURY, N.C. – Cold shooting out of the gate by LMU combined with a hot start by Catawba meant that the Lady Railsplitters fell behind early and could never catch up in the 65-47 loss to the Indians Saturday afternoon.
LMU falls to 10-7 overall and 6-5 in SAC play with the loss. Catawba improves to 10-8 and 8-3 in the SAC.
The Lady Railsplitters came out very cold, shooting 3-12 for the first quarter. Conversely, Catawba started the game on fire as they went 71.4 percent from the field (10-14) from the field and a perfect 3-3 from the charity stripe for the period. Catawba started out with a 5-0 run before
Ross Mathis hit the short jump shot to put LMU on the board. The Indians then went on another run to extend the lead to 10. Baskets from
Elizabeth Jones and
Emily Griffith cut the lead to 16-6 with 5:16 left, but Catawba closed out the quarter by going 9-0 and grabbing a 25-6 lead.
The Indians cooled off a bit in the second quarter, going 5-10 from the field while conversely LMU went 6-20 for the stanza but they were unable to make up any ground. A pair of three-pointers by Mathis, a trey from
Sydney Duggins and a jumper by
Rachel Griffith cut the lead to 30-17 mid-way through the period. Catawba quickly shut the door on that, going on an 11-2 run down the stretch to push the lead to 43-21 at the half.
Catawba would grab their largest lead of the game, 54-25, with 3:51 to go in the third. LMU then began to find some offensive rhythm and closed out the quarter by outscoring Catawba 11-2 to trail 57-36 going into the final stanza.
LMU would out-score Catawba 11-8 in the fourth quarter, but they could never cut the lead to less than 17 as the Indians would go on to claim the 65-47 victory.
Emily Griffith came off the bench to lead LMU in scoring with 12 points while her sister Rachel chipped in 10.
Rachel Griffith, along with
Qua Hines and
Dasia Maxwell, also led the team on the boards as all three players had five rebounds apiece. Rachel also led the team with three assists while Hines led in steals with five.
For the game, LMU went 25.7 percent (18-70) from the field, 25.0 percent (6-24) from three-point range and 83.3% (5-6) from the free throw line. The Indians shot 46.8 percent from the field, 27.3 percent from three-point range and 75.0 percent from the charity stripe. Catawba also narrowly bested LMU on the boards, out-rebounding them by a 40-37 margin.
Serena Brown led the Indians with 17 points. Terri Rogers had 15 points and a game-high nine rebounds while Toni Tucker had 10 points.
Quick Hits
- With the loss, the all-time series is evened up at 12-12. LMU falls to 3-9 all-time in Goodman Gym.
- The 25.7 percent shooting from the field is a season low.
Up Next
The Lady Railsplitters will return to the friendly confines of the Tex Turner Arena for three of the next four games. First up is Tusculum on January 24 at 6 p.m. LMU will be looking to exact some revenge for their 76-72 loss to the Pioneers in Greeneville on Nov. 29. Tusculum comes into the game at 13-4 overall and 8-3 in SAC play after winning 68-55 at Queens earlier today.
