Lady Railsplitters Propelled To Victory With Second Half Surge

February 4, 2012

Alise Samite dribbles the ball past Catawba's Nisha Long. Photo by Allen Earl Photography

Box Score

HARROGATE, TN -- Despite the Lady Railsplitters' mighty struggle offensively through the first half and beyond of Saturday's action, LMU put on a captivating performance in the final 15 minutes of play to comeback from a 19 point deficit and defeat Catawba College, 66-63. With the huge win over the top team in the conference, the Lady Railsplitters move to 5-7 in the South Atlantic Conference and 10-10 on the season. The Lady Indians fall to 9-3 in the SAC and 14-6 overall.

In the opening minutes of play, both teams struggled offensively as Catawba College held a 6-3 lead with 15:39 left in the half. That would remain the deficit for the ensuing minutes until the Lady Indians began to pull away. A jumper by Maggie Sullivan with 12:50 on the clock put Catawba on top 12-7. With the Lady Indians leading 19-14, they implemented an 8-0 run, capped by a three-point play by Dana Hicks, to take a 27-14 lead with 6:43 remaining. Catawba led by double-digits for most of the remaining minutes. A three-pointer by Karina Weiland cut the score to 35-25 in favor of the Lady Indians at the break.

Catawba College continued to extend their lead in the second half as they opened the half on a 13-4 run to take a 48-29 lead with 15:49 remaining to play. In a moment's notice, the game swung in favor of the Lady Railsplitters as they began to chip away at the deficit. A three-pointer by MaRanda Boddie cut the led to 49-36 with 14 minutes remaining. Lauren Cochran's three-point play with just under ten remaining dropped the Catawba advantage to single digits.

By the five-minute mark, the Lady Railsplitters had completely erased the lead the Lady Indians had built as Ralissa Nelson's three-point bucket tied the game at 56-56. With 4:31 left to play, Nelson gave LMU the lead with a three-point play.

Catawba College regained the lead once more before MaRanda Boddie gave the Lady Railsplitters the lead for good with 2:46 remaining. Lincoln Memorial University built a four point lead that was cut to one by three free throws from Lauren Lewis with ten seconds to play. Dayshalee Salaman nailed two free throws in the next possession to put LMU on top by three with six seconds remaining. Catawba College's last-ditch effort fell short as the Lady Railsplitters grabbed the astounding 66-63 victory.

Dana Hicks led the Lady Indians with 16 points and 16 rebounds in a huge double-double effort. Nisha Long added 14 points in the loss.

The Lady Railsplitters were led by the 14 point efforts from Ralissa Nelson and Lauren Cochran, who were huge down the stretch. Dayshalee Salaman added 12 points as she was the catalyst for the come from behind victory.

Lincoln Memorial will look for this momentum to carry over into the remaining games. They will hit the floor again on Wednesday, February 8th when they travel to Mars Hill for a tough South Atlantic Conference battle. That game is scheduled to tip at 6 p.m.

Newspaper Box Score
Catawba vs Lincoln Memorial
02/04/12 6:00 pm at Harrogate, TN
At Harrogate, TN
LINCOLN MEMORIAL 66, CATAWBA 63
CATAWBA (14-6, 9-3 SAC)
Hicks, Dana 6-20 4-5 16; Long, Nisha 5-16 2-3 14; Bully, Chloe 3-8 0-0 8;
Sullivan, Maggie 2-6 2-2 6; Connor, Jolysa 2-5 2-2 6; Coleman, Quaneasia 2-2
0-0 4; Merritt, Elizabeth 2-2 0-0 4; Lewis, Lauren 0-5 3-3 3; Clay, Mallary
0-1 2-2 2; Welfare, Renee 0-1 0-0 0; May, Taylor 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-67
15-17 63.
LINCOLN MEMORIAL (10-10, 5-7 SAC)
Nelson,Ralissa 4-10 3-3 14; Cochran,Lauren 5-11 4-7 14; Salaman,Dayshalee
4-16 2-4 12; Bradford,Kelsey 2-8 2-2 7; Boddie,MaRanda 2-5 1-2 6;
Barnett,Kiso 2-2 1-2 5; Weiland,Karina 1-2 0-0 3; Samite,Alise 1-4 0-0 2;
Richardson,Mariah 1-5 0-0 2; Aldridge,Seguoya 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 22-64 14-22
66.
Catawba.......................   35   28  -   63
Lincoln Memorial..............   25   41  -   66
3-point goals--Catawba 4-20 (Long, Nisha 2-7; Bully, Chloe 2-7; Lewis,
Lauren 0-5; Clay, Mallary 0-1), Lincoln Memorial 8-24 (Nelson,Ralissa 3-8;
Salaman,Dayshalee 2-5; Boddie,MaRanda 1-2; Bradford,Kelsey 1-6;
Weiland,Karina 1-2; Samite,Alise 0-1). Fouled out--Catawba-None, Lincoln
Memorial-None. Rebounds--Catawba 44 (Hicks, Dana 16), Lincoln Memorial 48
(Cochran,Lauren 8; Salaman,Dayshalee 8; Bradford,Kelsey 8). Assists--Catawba
8 (Long, Nisha 3), Lincoln Memorial 15 (Bradford,Kelsey 5). Total
fouls--Catawba 19, Lincoln Memorial 16. Technical fouls--Catawba-None,
Lincoln Memorial-None. A-705