HARROGATE, Tenn. --- Lincoln Memorial University outscored Tusculum College by 17 points during the second quarter, as the Railsplitters went on to a 72-57 victory in a South Atlantic Conference Women's basketball game Thursday night at Tex Turner Arena.
Britney Guy and Shea Coker scored 16 points apiece for the Railsplitters (10-6, 7-4 SAC), who shot 57.1 percent from the field in the first half to take a 42-20 lead into halftime. LMU held Tusculum to seven points during the second quarter, which saw the Railsplitters hold the Pioneers without a field goal for the final 5:26 of the period as part of a 16-2 run.
Shynese Whitener, the SAC's leading scorer at 19.5 points per game, reached the 20-point mark for the eighth time this season as she finished with a game-high 21 points along with six steals. Kasey Johnson added 15 points for the Pioneers (7-7, 5-6 SAC), who shot 37 percent (20-for-54) from the field as a team and were outrebounded by the Railsplitters by a 38-27 margin.
Tusculum led briefly twice in the early minutes of the game and trailed 18-13 at the end of the first period following a three-pointer by Whitener. LMU opened the second quarter with an 8-2 run that featured three-pointers by Ross Mathis and Coker, the latter giving the Railsplitters a 26-15 lead with 6:40 remaining in the half.
Johnson made a three-pointer with 5:26 left in the half to cut the LMU lead to 26-18, but the Railsplitters went on to score 16 of the final 18 points of the period to go on top 42-20 at intermission.
Mathis led the Railsplitters with 12 points on 4-for-5 shooting from three-point range in the first half, while Guy had nine points and four rebounds for LMU. Whitener led the Pioneers with seven points in the opening 20 minutes as Tusculum shot 8-for-26 (30.8 percent) from the field.
The Pioneers scored the first seven points of the second half, including five in a row from Whitener, to pull within 42-27 with 8:30 left in the third period. However, the Railsplitters were able to build their lead to as many as 24 points near the end of the quarter, and maintained the edge in the fourth period despite a late run from the Pioneers that cut the final margin to 15.
Kristen McMillion finished with eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds for the Pioneers, and in the process became the fifth player in program history to surpass 800 career rebounds. Kortnay Cox had a team-high eight rebounds for the Railsplitters.
As a team, Tusculum shot 15-for-21 from the foul line while LMU was 12-for-15 at the stripe. The Railsplitters committed 19 turnovers in the game, which the Pioneers turned into 14 points. Meanwhile, Tusculum had 16 turnovers which were converted into 17 points by Lincoln Memorial.
Tusculum will return to Pioneer Arena Saturday afternoon for a South Atlantic Conference matchup with Catawba. The Pioneers beat the Indians on the road 54-51 on December 5. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m.
- TC -
