HARROGATE, Tenn. – Lincoln Memorial shot 27 percent in the second but used a late 7-0 run to pull away from Carson-Newman and stay unbeaten with a 72-65 victory in South Atlantic Conference action Wednesday night at Tex Turner Arena.
Lincoln Memorial (18-0, 13-0) won for the fifth straight time on its home floor against Carson-Newman (12-7, 9-4) with the last win for the Lady Eagles coming on Jan. 25, 2012.
C-N trailed by four points entering the fourth quarter. After trading baskets for the first two minutes of the frame, Lincoln Memorial went cold going 0-for-12 and without a point for 4:50. The Lady Eagles mustered just six points during that stretch to tie the score at 60 with 3:07 on the clock.
Over the next 95 seconds, the Railsplitters scored seven unanswered points. Senior guard Kailyn Brooks (Lafayette, Tenn.) made a triple on the next possession to make it 67-63. After a pair of free tosses from Megan Pittman, redshirt-junior Katie Stubblefield (Alcoa, Tenn.) made a pair of foul shots to pull the visitors within four. It was the closest they got the rest of the way as LMU made three of four foul shots to end the night.
"If we are going to win on the road, you have to continue to score," Carson-Newman coach Mike Mincey said. "We just really found a hard time getting easy shots near the rim. I think our kids got a little frustrated on the defensive end. We got stagnant and took some bad shots at times. Even with that we were in a position to take a lead. We just couldn't make enough plays."
The Lady Eagles came out of the gates with the lead and took a five-point advantage at 15-10 with 3:42 to play in the first quarter. The Railsplitters responded with six unanswered in the next 90 seconds to take its first lead of the day. Carson-Newman scored the final four points of the stanza to hold a 21-19 lead after a quarter.
The visitors group held a 26-23 with 5:43 to play in the half after seeing the sixth-ranked team in the country go nearly three minutes without a point. LMU made seven of its final nine shots from the floor in the second stanza and used a 15-2 run to take its largest lead of the half of 10 points at 38-28 with nine seconds remaining in the half. Two free throws from sophomore Haris Price (Gatlinburg, Tenn.) at the close of the half snapped a 3:15 sequence without a point for C-N and made it a 38-30 score at halftime.
The 'Splitters scored 22 points in the paint and had eight second-chance points in the first half while they shot 53 percent from the field. Carson-Newman turned the ball over 13 times, 11 in the second quarter, leading to 15 points off of giveaways for LMU.
The first six minutes out of halftime saw the 'Splitters hold a 50-41 lead. The Lady Eagles went on a 10-2 spurt to pull within a single point with 48 seconds to play in the third quarter. Rachel Griffith hit a three-pointer to put the home squad on top 55-51 entering the final 10 minutes.
Brooks led the way for C-N with 21 points, four rebounds and three steals while making five triples in the contest. Sophomore Briana Smith (Nashville, Tenn.) was the only other Lady Eagle in double figures finishing with 12 points and three boards.
Pittman tallied her ninth double-double of the year with 23 points and 10 rebounds. Dasia Maxwell had 12 points, seven rebounds and three steals while Shea Coker finished with 11. Josey Harding added 12 boards.
The Lady Eagles make the trip to Charlotte Saturday afternoon for a 2 p.m. start against Queens. The game will be aired live on Mountain Country 106.3 WPFT-FM and cneagles.com/live starting at 1:45 p.m. with "The Appalachian Electric Cooperative Countdown to Tip-Off" on the Eagle Sports Network.
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