SALISBURY, N.C. – The Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team put forth a feisty third quarter performance in a difficult road test against Catawba College on Saturday afternoon, outscoring the favored Indians 23-14 coming out of the locker room.

However, the previous 20 minutes weren't kind to the Lady Railsplitters whatsoever.

Building up a 28-point advantage through the first two frames, the Indians withstood a quick LMU rally to preserve a 74-54 triumph, completing a season sweep over the blue and gray.

Lincoln Memorial (10-14, 9-11) couldn't keep up with the offensive numbers Catawba unleashed on them through the first half, finishing with a 49% clip from the field for the entire game, while LMU could only muster a 27% mark, hitting just 13 of 48 shots.

When the Lady Railsplitters first took on the Indians (21-4, 16-4) back in mid-January, Catawba entered Harrogate with a perfect record in South Atlantic Conference meetings, standing as the No. 14 team in the nation going in. LMU put a deep scare in the Indians in the end, coming just inches away from pulling out the upset, falling 60-56 after a pair of late-game three-point tries didn't drop.

In round two, the trend of the game was far more one-sided, with Catawba jumping out to a 23-5 lead after the first 10 minutes. Only able to connect on a single field goal across the entire opening stanza, Lincoln Memorial slumped to a seven-minute scoring drought after Maggie Jachimczuk's early three-ball.

Two free throws by senior Kyndall Caudle with 1:26 left in the quarter mercifully put an end to a 21-0 Catawba run.

The second period was more of the same, with the Indians adding fuel to the fire to reach a 44-16 cushion at the intermission. Back-to-back triples by Shaunae Sawyers and Kaitlin Stevenson in the half's final moments brought the deficit to its largest point of 28.

LMU was undeterred by the massive point discrepancy, however. Whittling the lead to as little as 13 in a very productive third quarter, the Lady Railsplitters outperformed the Indians 23-14 over the following 10 minutes.

Opening the third on a 21-6 spurt to grab some momentum, two straight layups by Shermeria Quarles and Sydney Newsome brought the lead down to 50-37 with just over three minutes left in the frame.

There just wasn't enough gas left in the tank for the Lady Railsplitters to complete the rally, as the Indians regrouped for a fourth quarter that resembled more of a stalemate.

Newsome turned out to be the game's leading scorer with 16 points next to five boards. The redshirt-sophomore forward reached 10 of those points from the charity stripe. Lexi Kiser added nine points in the defeat, while Lauren Flowers and Lindsay Proffitt put up eight and seven, respectively.

In a rare occurrence, only two players combined from both squads hit double digits in the scoring column, with Catawba's Lyrik Thorne posting 15 points while dishing out six assists. The Indians displayed more balance across their lineup, featuring 38 points from their bench, amounting to the 20-point victory.

Sawyers, Talia Barnes, Shemya Stanback, and Keyotta Garris would all hit the eight-point mark in the win. The latter three players added up for 16 of Catawba's 36 rebounds, a category in which the Indians beat LMU by one.

Another point of emphasis in the win was the 47% statistic from three-point land rained in by Catawba, who hit 10 of their 21 tries from deep. By comparison, the Lady Railsplitters would only go 5-18, amounting for 27%, just three days removed from one of their best showings of the season from distance in a 22-point win at Mars Hill.

Countering their eight assists with a 17-turnover output, Lincoln Memorial would never get closer than 17 points throughout the fourth period, doing so on a fast break lay-in from Newsome with 9:39 left to go.
 
Next Up
 
With their 2020 road schedule now completed, the Lady Railsplitters stay at Tex Turner Arena twice next week to put a bow on the regular season slate. Volunteer State rival Tusculum comes to Harrogate on Wednesday, February 26^th, with tip-off set for 5:30 p.m.

LMU visited Pioneer Arena in Greeneville back on January 22^nd, where TU produced a 73-59 victory.
 
How to Follow
 
Stay tuned to LMURailsplitters.com, as well as LMU's social media platforms —@LMURailsplitter on Twitter, @LMURailsplitters on Facebook and @lmurailsplitters on Instagram — for more LMU women's basketball coverage across the 2019-20 season.