HARROGATE, TENN. – When the number one team in the conference comes into your place, you know it is going to be a battle, and that is exactly what Catawba and Lincoln Memorial's women's basketball team did. In a game where no team led by more than four points throughout the second half, the Indians were able to keep their undefeated record as they beat LMU 60-57.
 
Neither team could get much of a lead for most of the first quarter, until the Lady Railsplitter's Mikayla Kuehne hit two threes in the final two minutes to give LMU a 19-11 lead after the first 10 minutes. Kuehne would score eight of the 19 first quarter points for LMU as she was just her strong night started.
 
The Indians turned up the pressure in the second quarter as they pressed the Lady Railsplitters up and down the court forcing seven LMU turnovers to take the lead with less than a minute to play, but a Grace Day layup with six seconds left gave the lead back to LMU going into the break.
 
Kuehne would again lead the Lady Railsplitter offense in the third quarter as she scored five of their first seven points of the period, and bringing the lead up to three. Irelynn Davisson brought the offense in the final minutes of the quarter, scoring a layup and knocking down a three to cut the Catawba lead down to one. The Indians would answer back as they hit three three-pointers in between those buckets from Davisson to take a 44-42 lead into the final quarter of play.
 
Both teams would trade baskets the entire fourth quarter as the two defenses buckled down and didn't allow any easy baskets. A 5-0 run in the middle of the quarter gave LMU the 53-51 advantage, but the Indians answered right back with a 6-0 run to take the lead right back. The Lady Railsplitters got the deficit back down to three with twenty seconds remaining, but stepped out of bounds on a potential game-tying possession to give the ball back to Catawba. From there the Indians knocked down two free throws to take a three-point lead and ultimately seal the game.
 
Kuehne led all scorers with 17 points, as she knocked down three from long range in addition to pulling down five rebounds and dishing out five assists. Davisson hit two three-pointers of her own to score 14 points, while Geovana Rios scored 11 and added four assists. Addi Kirkpatrick was a force on the glass of the bench coming up with team-high seven rebounds.
 
The Lady Raislplitter defense led the way all night, as they held a Catawba team that averages 75 points per game to only 60. The 60 points was the lowest the Indians have scored all season.
 
Up Next
The Lady Railsplitters stay at home as they welcome in SAC opponent Coker for a post-Thanksgiving break game on Saturday, November 27th. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 PM.
 
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 complete coverage of Lady Railsplitter basketball throughout the 2021-22 season.