Spartanburg, SC – Lincoln Memorial women's basketball defeats the King Tornado in Day 1 of the Conference Crossover Friday evening 53-45.
Lincoln Memorial came out with a strong defensive presence in the rest quarter, as they limited the Tornado to only score ten points compared to LMU's 15. Field shooting and rebounds is what separated the two programs, as the Railsplitters over doubled King's rebounding (13-6) and shot nearly 50% from the field. There were five different Railsplitters on the board with
Sajol Thornhilll leading with five points.
King started the scoring in the second with two free throws, then LMU played strong defense to put the Tornado through a five-minute scoring drought until the 3:16 mark. With the help of the 12.5 field goal percentage from King and strong efforts on both sides of the court from Lincoln Memorial, the Railsplitters go into the halftime break with the 24-17 lead.
The third was a more even battle, with both teams scoring 18 in the third, with
Keyonee Neal and
Kelsie Woodard doing all the scoring for the Railsplitters with ten and eight, respectively. LMU was still heavy on the boards as they grabbed 12 rebounds compared to King's six, going into the final quarter 42-35.
Quarter four was full of back-and-forth scoring, with King outscoring the Railsplitters 9-10 but LMU keeping the constant lead throughout the quarter.
Abethany James led the fourth with five points, giving Lincoln Memorial the 53-45 victory.
Woodard led the team in scoring with 13, along with 12 rebounds, for her first double-double of the season. Neal also recorded a double-double with 11 points and team-leading 13 rebounds and led with six blocks. James followed with eight points and three rebounds, and Thornhill was behind her with seven points.
Kallie Housley and
Hannah Miller each tallied six points each, with Housley also grabbing eight rebounds, dishing five assists, and recording four steals.
Brady Branam rounded out the scoring with two points.
Lincoln Memorial topped the Tornado by rebounding and scoring in the paint as LMU outrebounded King 47-24 and scored 28 points in the paint. The Railsplitters also went 38% from the field, 23% from beyond the arch, and 62% from the charity stripe.
With the win, Lincoln Memorial improves to 2-0 overall and King drops to 1-1.
The team will have a short turnaround as they will face the Converse Valkyries tomorrow, November 14th, at 3:00 pm.
