Deal leads Women's Basketball past LMU

MARS HILL, N.C. - Mars Hill's Taylor Deal posted a season-high 28 points in an 83-71 victory over Lincoln Memorial inside Stanford Arena. The Lions improve to 14-7 overall, 7-6 in the South Atlantic Conference. The Lady Railsplitters drop to 8-13 overall, 3-10 in the league.

Jocelyn Williams posted a double-double for the Lions with 11 points and 11 rebounds. Brittini Young and Margaret Harvey had 18 and 12 points, respectively. Tyler Carlson chipped in 10.

Dayshalee Salaman led Lincoln Memorial with 17 points. Chelea Craig and Patrice Talley followed up with 13 and 12 points, respectively. Whitney Holmes had 10.

Mars Hill opened the game on an 8-0 run before tied the game at 13 seven minutes into the game. Williams coverted an old-fashioned three-point play with 7:24 left in the first half to give the Lions a 25-21 advantage.

Mars Hill outscored Lincoln Memorial, 17-9, the rest of the first period. The Lions grabbed their first double-digit lead of the half, 35-25, at the three minute mark when Harvey drilled a trey and led 42-31 at halftime.

Deal had 17 first half points, while Williams had nine. Salaman had eight in the opening frame.

The Lady Railsplitters cut the deficit to seven points on a jumper by Talley before Young pushed the margin back to 10 off a three-pointer with 18:04 left in the game.

Mars Hill grabbed its largest advantage of the game at 18 points, 63-45, at the 12:17 mark when Young nailed a three from the top of the arc.

Lincoln Memorial answered with an 18-5 spurt to cut the deficit to five points, 68-63. The run was highlighted by back-to-back buckets by Melanie Hemphill and a shot from behind the arc by Salaman.

The Lions pushed their lead back to double digits on an old-fashioned three-point play by Young. Her running layup plus free throw gave Mars Hill a 79-67 upper hand with 1:31 left in the game.

The Lions were 29-63 from the field, 5-21 from behind the arc, and 20-27 from the free throw line. The Lady Railsplitters were 26-64 from the field, 3-15 from distance, and 16-18 from the charity stripe.

Mars Hill will host Brevard on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. ET.