NEWBERRY - The Newberry College women's basketball team stayed undefeated at home Wednesday night by defeating the Lincoln Memorial Lady Railsplitters, 55-45. They are now 6-0 at Eleazer Arena.
Monica Alexander (Norcross, Ga.) scored 13 points and pulled down a career high 16 rebounds. She shot 50% from the floor and led her team in assists with five. Laura Marquardt (Mt. Pleasant, S.C.) was the team's leading scorer with 14 points. She also pulled down eight boards and earned an amazing six blocks.
Amberly O'Dell (Argos, Ind.) led the Lady Railsplitters on Wednesday night with a team high 13 points. Megan Davis (Petersburg, Ind.) led LMU in both rebounds (8) and assists (3).
The game started off slow as LMU only led 9-7 with ten minutes remaining in the first half. The scarlet and gray turned their game up a notch and went on a 14-4 run to take a six point lead. They would hold onto the lead and enter the locker room on top, 26-20.
Newberry shot poorly from the field (30.4%) and turned the ball over a whopping 11 times. Still, Newberry took the first half by outrebounding LMU, 26 to 15. The home team also earned six second chance points while the opposition could not earn any.
Monica Alexander played great in the first half, scoring a team high nine points on 3-for-5 shooting from the field and 3-for-4 shooting from the foul line. She also earned a game high nine rebounds, two away from her season high in a game. O'Dell was the leading scorer for LMU in the first half with five points.
Newberry pushed the tempo at the start of the second half and earned its first double-digit lead with a little over 14 minutes remaining. The Lady Railsplitters answered back and even cut Newberry's lead to three points with seven minutes left on the clock. Despite the push, Newberry held onto the lead and finished the game with a ten point victory. LMU's 45 point total was the lowest Newberry has held a team to all season.
Newberry continued to crash the boards in the second half but also cut down on its turnovers. The scarlet and gray only committed five TO's in the final period, less than half of the amount they committed in the first.
Janine Ward (Tallevast, Fla.) led Newberry in the second half with a team high seven points. Dayshalee Salaman (Carolina, P.R.) played solid basketball for the Lady Railsplitters in the final period with eight points on 4-for-6 shooting.
Newberry made less field goals, committed more turnovers, and shot at a lower percentage than Lincoln Memorial. Despite all that, Newberry earned the win by shooting 15-for-21 from the foul line. Lincoln Memorial on the other hand had only one free throw attempt the entire game.
The win puts the Newberry College women's basketball team at 11-5 overall and 4-1 in the SAC. They will take a week off before traveling to No. 5 Tusculum on Wednesday, January 21 at 6 p.m. Lincoln Memorial (6-9, 1-4 in the SAC) will return home this Saturday to take on Lenoir-Rhyne at 6 p.m.
