GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- Lincoln Memorial University used a decisive advantage in rebounding to rally from a 13-point deficit and defeat Tusculum College 70-61 in South Atlantic Conference Women's basketball action Wednesday night at Pioneer Arena.
Megan Pittman led the Railsplitters (14-8, 11-6 SAC) with 22 points, a game-high 16 rebounds and four steals as Lincoln Memorial outscored Tusculum 45-28 in the second half to erase an eight-point halftime deficit. LMU finished the game with a 48-30 edge on the glass, with 23 of their rebounds coming on the offensive end and leading to 20 second-chance points for the Railsplitters.
Shynese Whitener scored a game-high 23 points for the Pioneers (10-10, 8-9 SAC), who dropped their third straight game despite shooting 50 percent from the field in the first half as a team (13-for-26). Tusculum shot 33.3 percent (10-for-30) in the second half to finish the game at 41.1 percent (23-for-56) from the floor, including 2-for-12 on three-pointers.
Whitener, who passed Julie Helle (1,139 points from 1978-82) for 13th place on the Tusculum career scoring list at 1,145 points, also became the sixth player in school history to record 200 career steals with a second-quarter theft. Whitener shot 9-for-19 from the field and 5-for-6 from the foul line and also had two assists and two steals to go along with four rebounds in the game.
Pittman scored the first five points of the game for Lincoln Memorial, but Tusculum answered with seven straight points on a three-pointer by Maelyn Head, a jumper by Sydney Wilson and a layup from Kasey Johnson. Tusculum led 20-14 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a pair of free throws by Kristen Atwell with one second remaining in the period.
The Pioneers extended their lead to 12 points at 26-14 following a jumper by Whitener with 6:47 left in the first half, and took their largest lead of the night at 33-20 on a basket by Whitener with 1:26 to go in the half. But, the Railsplitters came back with five points in the final 1:06 of the half to go to the locker room down 33-25. Whitener led all players with 11 points in the first half while Wilson, Head and Atwell had six points apiece for the Pioneers. Pittman paced the Railsplitters in the opening half with nine points, six rebounds and three steals, but LMU shot 32.3 percent (10-for-31) as a team and missed on all eight of their three-point attempts in the half.
Tusculum led 39-31 midway through the third period, but went nearly 2 1/2 minutes without a shot attempt thanks to three consecutive turnovers. Meanwhile, the Railsplitters went to work on the glass as they had 10 offensive rebounds in the quarter, eventually using a 7-0 run to take a 44-43 lead on two foul shots by Kiara Rawls with 32 seconds left in the quarter. Rachel Griffith gave LMU a 46-45 lead with two free throws with 0.2 seconds left in the period after Whitener had given the Pioneers a one-point lead seconds earlier with two foul shots of her own.
The Pioneers trailed 52-49 after a free throw by Wilson with 6:46 left, but a basket by Jasmine Kelly followed by back-to-back field goals from Pittman pushed the Lincoln Memorial lead to nine at 58-49 with 5:20 to go. The Railsplitters would lead by as many as 11 in the closing minutes while not allowing Tusculum to get any closer than seven down the stretch.
Wilson shot 5-for-12 from the field for the Pioneers and finished with 11 points, while Head had 10 points, three rebounds and three steals. Atwell had six points and six rebounds in 19 minutes off the bench, tying Johnson for the team high in rebounds. Both Johnson and Kristen McMillion played less than 20 minutes due to foul trouble, and both eventually fouled out late in the second half. McMillion had two blocked shots to become the sixth player in program history to record 100 career blocks, doing so in her 100th career game.
Pittman was the lone player to finish in double figures for the Railsplitters, as Kelly and Rachel Griffith had eight points apiece. Stephanie Smith had six points, six rebounds and three blocked shots in 14 minutes off the bench, while Josey Harding contributed nine rebounds (six offensive), three blocks and three steals.
The Pioneers finished the game 13-for-17 at the free-throw line (76.5 percent) while the Railsplitters hit 20-for-29 in the game (69 percent), including 15-for-22 in the second half. Tusculum committed 21 turnovers, which LMU turned into 17 points, while the Railsplitters had 18 miscues which the Pioneers converted into 16 points.
Tusculum will host Coker on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. at Pioneer Arena in a key SAC matchup. With five games left in the regular season, the Pioneers and Cobras are tied for the eighth and final playoff spot in the conference at 8-9. Coker defeated Tusculum 62-60 at home in the teams' first meeting on December 19.
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