Senior Night & Final Regular Season Home Game For Vannoy Not Enough To Lift Lady Splitters To Victory

HARROGATE, TN – The emotions of seniors Latoya Johnson (Miami, FL), Kelsi Salas (Rock Falls, IL), Wisemane Alcema (West Palm Beach, FL), Betsy Bowser (Galveston, IN) and Madeline Richards (Floyds Knobs, IN) combined with those of Roger Vannoy coaching his last regular season home game weren’t enough to spark the Lady Railsplitters to victory in their 55-52 loss to Newberry College on Saturday night. (Box score)

Newberry used athleticism and quickness late in the first half of play to extend their lead to nine, before going into the locker room leading by five 30-25.  Lincoln Memorial never led in the first half, but kept the game close with solid free throw shooting, hitting 8-11 shots from the line in the first twenty minutes of play.

Lincoln Memorial came out with a solid plan of attack in the second half, but couldn’t get to the free throw line until late in the game and Newberry limited the Lady Splitters’ opportunities from the perimeter which created a scoring void.  Combine that with the Indian’s domination of the boards and the Lady Splitters were never able to get over the hump, falling back as many as 15 points with 7:49 to play. 

Senior Madeline Richards was the only LMU player to score double figures.  Richards did most of her damage at the free throw line, knocking down 9-11 shots to finish with 13 points in the loss.  Freshman Andi Winney (Yorktown, IN) was the leading rebounder for LMU with eight boards.

The Lady Railsplitters now prepare for the first round of the South Atlantic Conference Tournament which will take place at home in the Tex Turner Arena on Monday night against Presbyterian College.  The Lady Blue Hose will enter Monday’s match-up with LMU as the league’s #9 ranked team taking on the Lady Railsplitters which finished #8.  The winner will travel to Wingate on Wednesday night.  Tip-off Monday is set for 7:00 p.m.