ANDERSON, S.C. - In the sporting world, it's a commonly held tradition to always fear the team with nothing to lose. The Lincoln Memorial University women's basketball team (11-10) continued to embody that statement Thursday evening with a 64-62 victory over fifth-seeded Anderson to advance to the 2021 South Atlantic Conference Pilot Flying J Women's Basketball Championship final. The eighth-seeded Lady Railsplitters, the first eight seed to make it past the quarterfinal round of the championships since they began in 1991, will travel to second-seeded Tusculum Sunday afternoon for the title bout.

In a tightly contested game in which neither side was ahead by more than four points, transfer Mikayla Kuehne came up huge down the stretch with the tying layup and clinching free throws, as well as an excellent contest on the final Trojan shot and the final defensive rebound to seal the victory.

Anderson began the game with four quick points in a start that was very similar to LMU's road victory over top-seeded Carson-Newman on Monday, Mar. 1, but Jordan Maney responded with a layup and the contest was off and running. After the teams scored again, consecutive three pointers by Maggie Jachimczuk and Lindsay Proffitt gave the Lady Railsplitters their first lead of the contest. Later, a Lexi Kiser and-one saw LMU with a 14-12 lead seven minutes in, and that lead was extended to 20-16 on another Maney basket with less than a minute to play.

The second quarter had a much more defensive-minded feel to it early on as neither team was able to gain much ground. Although Lauren Flowers and Maney widened the Lady Railsplitter lead to eight, Anderson was hardly deterred and used a 7-0 run to get right back in the game. Leading 26-23, LMU was unable to keep up the positive momentum and a M'Mya Cutter fastbreak layup gave the Trojans a one point lead heading into the intermission. As both teams would find out, the battle to advance to the tournament finals was just beginning.

LMU came out strong in the third period with a Proffitt three and a basket from Jachimczuk, quickly seizing the momentum back. From there, the teams played evenly as a J'Mya Cutter three saw the Trojans get within one point halfway through the quarter. Every time Anderson got close, the Lady Railsplitters responded as three combined free throws from Kuehne and Flowers kept the lead. Jaylin Spurlin's consecutive baskets knotted the contest up at 46-all with less than a minute to play, but Kuehne scored once again to give LMU a slim lead going into the final stanza.

A frantic beginning to the fourth quarter saw both teams score a flurry of baskets as the lead stayed within one possession for the first couple of minutes. Jachimczuk's trey extended the LMU lead to five points, and from there the game tightened significantly as the game pressure began to mount. 

Britney Bailey and Sprulin scored consecutive baskets to scratch within one point once again, but as they had all night, LMU was in no hurry to lay down. Kiser's layup kept the margin at three before a Samantha Michel layup sliced the lead right back to a single point. Maney's free throw and a Bailey jumper saw the game tied at 60 with less than three minutes to play.

With less than a minute and a half on the clock, Taylor Hair's jumper gave Anderson their first lead since the halftime break. Kuehne's clutch layup then tied the score, leading to back-to-back timeouts. A missed three pointer from Bailey gave the Lady Railsplitters the ball back with under thirty seconds to play, and they called yet another timeout. Kuehne drove into the lane and was fouled in the waning seconds, then hit both free throws for the lead. Although Cutter managed to get off a floater, it was short and LMU ran onto the court in celebration for the second consecutive contest.

Coming off the bench, Kuehne led the offensive charge once again with 15 points and four rebounds. Kiser and Proffitt joined her in double figures with 12 as they combined for eight rebounds, and Jachimczuk scored 11 with five rebounds and a team-high three assists. Flowers, the team's leading scorer, was held to give points but managed to snag a team-best eight rebounds to contribute heavily in the upset victory.

The Lady Railsplitters will have two days of rest before gathering themselves to travel to Greeneville, Tenn. for the championship game against the second-seeded Pioneers. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.