Anderson, S.C. — The fifth-seeded Anderson University women's basketball team fell to the eighth-seeded Railsplitters, 64-62, in a back and forth battle on Thursday evening at the Abney Athletic Center. The Trojans season ends with a 14-11 mark, while Lincoln Memorial (11-10) move on to play the second-seeded Tusculum Pioneers in the SAC finals on Sunday.
"I'm so proud of this team," said head coach Jonathon Barbaree. "All year with all the adversity we have gone through and the commitment and sacrifice that this team made in order to even play this year was more than I could ever ask"
"For the fourth straight year we made it to at least the semifinals of the conference tournament," said Barbaree. "I love this team and I'm proud of each one of them"
"As for the game, it was a great basketball game fought by two physical teams," added Barbaree. "It came down to the final plays and we had a chance. That's all you can ask for."
KEY STATS
- Anderson outrebound the Railsplitters, 37-32.
- Anderson shot 41.4 (24-58) percent from the field, while LMU shot 44.6 (25-56) percent.
- The Trojans made 11-of-17 (64.7%) from the three-point line, while LMU made 8-of-11 (72.7%).
-The game featured eight ties and 11 lead changes.
KEY TROJANS
- Jalyn Spurlin and Samantha Michel shared team-high scoring honors with 13 points apiece. Spurlin ripped down nine rebounds, while dishing out two assists and being credited with one steal.
- Taylor Hair scored 11 points and seven rebounds.
- J'Mya Cutter chipped in 11 points, grabbing two rebounds and dishing out two assists.
Lincoln Memorial led for the majority of the game (28:17) with its lead never larger than eight points. After trailing AU by one point at halftime, the Railsplitters won the third quarter, 17-14.
The Railspitters lead grew to five with 7:36 to play, before the Trojans tied the game at 60 apiece with 2:58 remaining. AU's Hair made a jumper to give the Black and Gold a brief lead with LMU's Mikayla Kuehne dropping in a layup to tie the game with just under a minute to play.
After a missed attempt by Anderson, Kuehne drove to the basket and was fouled where she connected on both shots to give LMU a 64-62 lead.
The Trojans called timeout to advance the ball with 3.7 second remaining, but could AU's Cutter could not connect on a running shot in the lane.
