HARROGATE, Tenn. — When the Tornado took a one-point lead with a minute, 21 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team held its composure.
 
It was Shermeria Quarles who instantly responded, showing a sense of confidence the junior did all Tuesday night inside Tex Turner Arena when she sunk a turnaround jumper to give her Lady Railsplitters the lead for good in a home-opening, 72-69, victory.
 
"In practice I'm going against my assistant coach (Catrina Green) and when game time comes, it's making it way easier," Quarles said. "We are also clicking this year and all encouraging each other so that helps with the confidence, as well."
 
Quarles' practice routine showed under the lights as she came off the bench, logging 20 minutes and recording new career highs in both points (14) and rebounds (11). Her teammate, Sydney Newsome, also saw a new career high in rebounds with 12 in her 26 minutes.
 
Outside of Quarles' team-high 14 points, LMU (2-2) was paced by Emily Griffith's 13 points, eight boards and six assists, along with 10 points and six rebounds from Sydney Duggins. Rachel Griffith was next with nine points, while Lindsay Proffitt had seven.

In all, 10 Lady Railsplitters saw home-opening action versus King University (2-2).
 
"There were times we were in foul and there were times we had to go to the bench," LMU women's basketball head coach Krystal Evans said. "Everybody contributed great minutes and it was an overall team victory."
 
The Tornado's come-from-behind attempt, swirling back from as many as 13 down before taking a one-point lead, was led by Kristen Cupples (16 points), Kori West (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Desiree Bates (12).
 
But, in the end it was a clutch jumper from Quarles and a strong defensive stance that propelled the Lady Railsplitters, who won the rebounding battle, 58-34, to victory.

"To be a good team, we have to be able to put teams away, and I feel like we allow teams to linger and linger," Evans said. "I do feel like the effort was there and we saw some good things. I thought Shermeria came out and attacked their post Kori (West), and I thought she did a good job handling that. We did a great job on the boards. There were a lot of positives tonight."

The LMU women will be back in action when South Atlantic Conference foe Carson-Newman comes to town for the conference opener Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 6 p.m.