Lions Fall to Lady Railsplitters in Shootout

HARROGATE, TENN. - The Mars Hill women's basketball team dropped the South Atlantic Conference opener 100-90 to Lincoln Memorial in Tex Turner Arena on Wednesday. Mars Hill is 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the league; Lincoln Memorial is 2-1 and 1-0.

Camille Glymph scored a game-high 30 points, with Paige Chavis setting a new career-high with 25 points. Cadence Wilmoth scored 17 points, with 12 points from Kelsey Espinosa. Espinosa led the Lions with nine rebounds.

Lincoln Memorial was led by Stephanie Smith's 16 points, followed by 15 points from Kiara Rawls, Aisjah Lee with 14, Katrina Ottesen with 12 and Kortnay Cox with 10.  Megan Pittman pulled down a game-high 13 rebounds.

The opening half featured seven ties and 10 lead changes. Lincoln Memorial scored the first four points of the game before a Glymph jumper and 3-pointer gave the Lions a 5-4 lead. The Lady Railsplitters pulled ahead 9-7 thanks to a Cox 3-pointer before the Lions evened the score on a Wilmoth layup and took a 12-9 lead following three Wilmoth free throws. Lincoln Memorial enjoyed a three-point advantage following a Harding jumper, but the Lions tied the score at 20 on a Glymph three and took a 24-20 lead following a pair of Wilmoth free throws and a Chavis jumper.

Lincoln Memorial went on an 8-0 run to take a 28-24 lead before the Lions tied at 30 following a Chavis bucket with nine minutes to play in the first half. With the score knotted at 34, Lincoln Memorial forced three straight turnovers as the Railsplitters pulled ahead to a 41-34 lead before consecutive Wilmoth jumpers pulled the Lions to within three, 41-38, with an Espinosa jumper serving as the last basket before halftime as the Lady Railsplitters took a 44-42 lead into the break.

The Lady Railsplitters led by two points, 50-48, until a 9-2 run gave them a 59-50 lead with 15:15 remaining. A Chavis layup cut the deficit to eight, 66-58, with 12:07 to play before the Lady Railsplitters went on a 14-8 run to claim an 80-66 lead. Trailing 88-72 with 4:23 to play, Mars Hill began an 11-4 run fueled by a pair of 3-pointers by Glymph to cut the Lady Railsplitter advantage to 92-83 with 2:14 remaining. Lincoln Memorial extended the lead to 11, 96-85, before Chavis hit a 3-pointer with 55 seconds to play to cut the deficit to 96-88. Following two Rawls free throws, Chavis made a layup with 13 seconds for a 98-90 score before Rawls made two more free throws to seal the win.

Both Mars Hill and Lincoln Memorial shot 50 percent from the field. Mars Hill was 81 percent from the charity stripe with the Lady Railsplitters shooting 45.5 percent from three-point range. Lincoln Memorial out-rebounded Mars Hill 50-30.

Mars Hill hosts Catawba on Saturday at 2 p.m. in Stanford Arena.