GREENEVILLE, Tenn. - The Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team (7-9, 6-9 South Atlantic Conference) started fast against rv Tusculum on the road Wednesday evening, but struggled to score in the second half and fell to the Pioneers (14-2, 14-2) 71-62 inside Pioneer Arena.

The Pioneers got the opening bucket to start the game as conference rebounding leader Maddie Sutton put in a basket. Jordan Maney quickly responded with a three, but Sutton scored once again to re-take the lead for Tusculum. Maggie Jachimczuk then countered with a triple of her own, one of her career-high four made during the contest. Jalia Arnwine tied the score and Jachimczuk scored once again as LMU maintained a slim lead. Brianna Dixon tied the score with a layup before Lexi Kiser hit a three. Dixon converted an and-one, but Jachimczuk connected from deep once again to regain a three point lead. A Kristen Click three pointer tied the score once again, and Lauren Flowers closed out the quarter in the Lady Railsplitters' favor with a layup just before the first quarter buzzer.

Dixon briefly tied the score at the beginning of the second period, but Lindsay Proffitt responded with two free throws. Click made a three to give the Pioneers a one point lead and Proffitt converted a three point play to continue the see-saw scoring early. Dixon tied the score with a basket of her own before consecutive three pointers from Jachimczuk and Flowers gave LMU its biggest lead of the contest at six points. A Sutton free throw stopped the run, but the Lady Railsplitters countered with a Maney three, two Kassidy Kenny free throws, and a Flowers three pointer extended the lead out to 13. Two Marta Rodrigues free throws stopped the bleeding momentarily and LMU countered with a Jachimczuk three. Two Dixon free throws and another Maney long ball gave the Lady Railsplitters what would be their largest lead at 15 points. Arnwine and Dixon closed out the quarter with threes to cut the lead to nine at the halftime break.

Arnwine also began the third stanza with a three and Proffitt responded with a layup to keep the lead at eight. After the layup, Tusculum scored the next five points to make it a three point game. A Kiser three pointer got the LMU lead back to six, but Sutton scored twice more to get within one possession. Another Kiser three got the lead back to five before an Arnwine three. Flowers made two free throws, but a wide-open three from Rodrigues cut the lead to one. The Lady Railsplitters would not score for the remainder of the quarter as a 10-0 Pioneer run closed out the quarter.

The final stanza saw little scoring early on but an Arnwine three extended the lead to nine. A Dixon layup and Jachimczuk pullup jumper kept the margin at nine and a Kiser layup slashed it back to seven. Two Sutton free throws and a Maney layup saw the lead stay at seven with just over four minutes to play, but a backbreaking three from Arnwine got the Pioneer lead back to ten with under four to play. A Jachimczuk layup briefly gave LMU hope, but two Arnwine free throws and a Sutton layup pushed the lead to 12 with two minutes to play. Kiser converted an and-one with under a minute left to close the scoring and send the Lady Railsplitters home with a road loss.

Jachimczuk led four player in double figures with 18 points and five assists, while Kiser added 14 points, three rebounds, and three assists on 5-8 shooting (3-5 from deep). Maney had 11 points and six rebounds and Flowers finished with ten points and a team-leading seven rebounds.

LMU will look to get back in the win column as they host Queens on Saturday, Feb. 20 inside B. Frank 'Tex" Turner Arena. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.