Lady Railsplitters Fall On A Buzzer Beater At Catawba

SALISBURY, NC – The Lady Railsplitter basketball team fell short in their attempt to give Coach Roger Vannoy a final win on the road as Catawba's Brittany Higgins hit a 12 foot jumper to give the host Lady Indians the 74-72 win on Wednesday. (Box score)

The game was a see-saw affair, with neither team able to grab a lead for long.  LMU led 32-26 at the halftime break. 

Catawba led 72-65 after a layup by Ne’Keithia Howard with 2:01 to play. Shots from Madeline Richards (Floyds Knobs, IN) and Heather Benton (Wooton, KY) hit jumpers to pull LMU within 72-69 with less than 30 seconds to go. Richards took the ball down the court and used a screen to get open and drained a three-pointer with eight seconds to go to tie the game at 72-72.  Catawba then took the ball down the court and Gia Colombo found Higgins coming off a screen and got her the ball for the game winning basket.

LMU (12-13, 4-10 SAC) was led by Richards and Latoya Johnson (Miami, FL) with 15 points each. Benton also scored 11 points in the loss.  Hillary Hampton led Catawba (19-6, 9-4 SAC) with 18 points and Howard scored 10.

Catawba shot just 39% in the first half, but canned 67% in the second half, including going 4-for-5 from behind the arc. LMU shot 59% in the second half and was a school record 10-for-16 for three-point range for the game. Catawba held a 30-23 edge on the boards.

Next up for the Lady Railsplitters is a meeting with arch-rival Carson-Newman on Saturday.  Tip-off is at 6 p.m. in the Turner Arena.