Lady Railsplitters Overcome 12-Point Deficit to Defeat Carson-Newman

HARROGATE, TN – The Lincoln Memorial University Lady Railsplitters battled back from 12 points down in the first half, including a 7 point halftime deficit Saturday night to defeat the Lady Eagles of Carson-Newman College 75-61 in South Atlantic Conference play.  (Box score)

LMU took its first lead of the game with 9:07 remaining in the contest on a three pointer by Betsy Bowser (Galveston, IN) and extended the lead to 15 before finally coming away with the win.  Free throw shooting proved to be huge factor in the winning effort, as LMU got to the line sixteen times in the second half, knocking down fourteen of those shots and shooting 76.9% from the line for the game.  Another contributing factor in the win was turnovers.  LMU limited their turnovers to only 13 on the night while forcing 21 Lady Eagle turnovers in forty minutes of play.

LMU guard Madeline Richards (Floyds Knobs, IN) was 12 of 14 at the line and led the Lady Railsplitter comeback with 24 points while center Latoya Johnson (Miami, FL) continued the assault she has been on of South Atlantic Conference opponents for the past several games with 14 points.  Junior forward Heather Benton (Wooton, KY) added another 12 points for the Lady Railsplitters and freshman Andi Winney (Yorktown, IN) led LMU on the glass with 11 boards.

Carson-Newman got 12 point performances from Cassie Burks and Lindsey Eggleston while Shari Buford put in another 10 in the Lady Eagles’ seventh loss of the season and their sixth loss in South Atlantic Conference play.