WOMEN'S BASKETBALL NEWS

LINCOLN MEMORIAL UNIVERSITY

OFFICE OF SPORTS INFORMATION

Sports Release                                                                                                                      February 6, 2008

Tusculum Women Sweep Lady Railsplitters In Regular Season Play

HARROGATE, TN – The Tusculum College women’s basketball team used three point shooting and transition basketball to an 82-67 win over Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday night, sweep the home and away series for the 2007-08 season. (Box score)

Lincoln Memorial trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half of play before making a run just before the intermission to pull to within five at the break 36-31.  As the second half got underway, Tusculum again opened up an eight point advantage before the Lady Railsplitters came storming back to cut the deficit to three with 13:41 to play.

Finally, with about 12:40 remaining in the second half, the Pioneers went on a run that extended their lead to 19 points on two different occasions before eventually coming away with the 15 point win to improve to 18-3 on the year and 8-1 in South Atlantic Conference play.  “We didn’t defend the perimeter very well in the first or the second half,” said LMU Head Coach Larry Just.  “We committed too many turnovers and didn’t do the things we needed to do to win.”

Tusculum’s Shantae Shank led all scorers with 24 points on the night, while Ashli Oliver finished with 20, Jasmine Gunn 13 and Stephany Neptune 10.  Neptune also led the Pioneers on the glass with six boards.

For Lincoln Memorial, senior Heather Benton (Wooton, KY) took top scoring and rebounding honors with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while sophomore Andi Winney (Yorktown, IN) contributed 15 points and junior Kara Harris (Alcoa, TN) 13 on the way to the Lady Railsplitters' tenth loss of the season.

Now 10-10 on the year and 2-7 in the South Atlantic Conference, the Lady Railsplitters will travel to Brevard, North Carolina this Saturday to take on the Tornados of Brevard College in a non-conference bout.  The meeting with Brevard will be the final time the two teams square off as non-conference opponents as Brevard will officially become eligible to compete for the conference title next year in the SAC.  Tip-off is set for 2:00 p.m.

-LMU-