SALISBURY, N.C. – It was a back and forth affair all afternoon between the Lincoln Memorial women's basketball team and hosting Catawba Indians. Both teams fought back from big deficits and made clutch shots throughout the game and the Lady Railsplitters got a career-high 28 points from Lindsay Proffitt, but it was not enough as Catawba came out on top 72-65.
 
Both teams struggled to get much going to open the game, resulting in a 6-6 tie halfway through the opening period. The offenses heated up after that and layups by Lauren Flowers and Grace Day gave the Lady Railsplitters their first lead of the game at 11-10. The Indians tied it back up and kept going amidst an 8-0 run to take an 18-11 advantage before Mikayla Kuehne knocked down two free throws to cut the deficit to five to end the first quarter.
 
LMU got things going early in the second quarter, getting threes from Irelynn Davisson and Proffitt and a jumper from Kuehne to retie the game at 21. The Indians answered back with a 9-4 run to take a 30-25 lead before the Lady Railsplitters answered back with a 10-2 run of their own. Geovana Rios got it started with a layup followed by three-pointers by Davisson and Proffitt and two Proffitt free throws gave Lincoln Memorial a 35-32 lead heading into the break.
 
Proffitt picked up right where she left off in the first half, as she knocked down another three-pointer 25 seconds into the period to push the lead to eight. That three was part of a 15-5 run to start the second half, with threes by Davisson and another by Proffitt helped push the lead to 13. Catawba started chipping away from there, scoring 15 points in the last five minutes of the quarter, but another three by Proffitt, who had 11 points in the quarter, and a buzzer beating layup by Lauren Flowers give LMU a 59-52 advantage with 10 minutes to play.
 
The Indians turned up the pressure in the fourth quarter, forcing eight turnovers in the period and held the Lady Railsplitters to only six points in the quarter. Flowers got the scoring started in the period with a layup to push the LMU lead to nine, but the Indians went on a 10-0 run to retake the lead at 62-61 with 4:40 to play. Catawba pushed the lead back up to five, but Proffitt answered with another from deep to cut it down to two. That was as close as LMU would get as the Indians knocked down free throws in the final minute to secure the victory.
 
For the second time in three games, Proffitt scored a new career-high, as her 28 points this afternoon bested the 25 she scored last Saturday against Mars Hill. It was an efficient 28 points, with Proffitt shooting 9-14 from the field and 6-9 from deep. Her six rebounds were second on the team behind Kuehne's seven boards. In addition to her production on the glass, Kuehne also dished out six assists and contributed six points. Flowers poured in 12 points and added six assists, while Irelynn Davisson scored 11 with three three-pointers.
 
As a team, the Lady Railsplitters, 54% from the field and 45% from behind the arc and 80% from the free throw line. LMU scored 17 points off 17 Catawba turnovers, but it was not enough to overcome the 21 turnovers committed by the Blue and Gray.
 
Up Next
The Lady Railsplitters have a busy upcoming week all starting on Monday as they face Lenoir-Rhyne is a rescheduled game, starting at 5:30. They have another 5:30 tip-off when they take on Carson-Newman on Wednesday evening before closing out the week against Wingate on Saturday at 2:00. All games are at home in Tex Turner Arena.

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.