ANDERSON, S.C. - After leading the entire game that saw Anderson University women's basketball team build a 19 point cushion, the Trojans were able to fend off a late run by Lincoln Memorial, 67-62, in South Atlantic Conference action Wednesday evening at the Abney Center.
Anderson improves to 20-4 overall and 18-3 in SAC play while Lincoln Memorial falls to 15-11 overall and 12-11 in the conference.
Despite a slow scoring night, Anderson placed four Trojans in double figures. Led by senior Madison Floyd's game-high 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor and 3-of-5 3-pointers. Floyd has made at least three 3-pointers in her last three games on 11-of-18 for 61 percent. Fellow classmate Jennifer Monroe scored 12 points and adding six rebounds. Junior Alexis Dillard tallied 11 points while grabbing six rebounds and Heather Jankowy chipped in 10 points along with six assists and three steals. Senior Katie Davis played quality minutes for the Black and Gold scoring eight points on 4-for-9 shooting with three rebounds in 20 minutes of action.
Lincoln Memorial was led by Megan Pittman scoring a team high 13 points while ripping down a game high 13 rebounds. Teammate Britney Guy chipped in 11 points on 5-for-9 shooting from the floor and 1-for-2 from behind the arc.
Playing a gritty game, freshman guard Tamia Eatmon pulled down a team high seven rebounds while accumulating a game high five steals. Anderson forced a total of 17 turnovers outscoring the Railspitters 28-15 on points off turnovers. The Trojans held Lincoln Memorial to 33.8 percent (23-for-68) from the field and 17.6 percent (3-for-17) from behind the arc.
"I thought our defensive effort was really good throughout the game," said Anderson head coach Jimmy Garrity. "We also did a much better job of taking care of the ball with just 13 turnovers for the game."
For the game, the Trojans shot 37.9 percent (22-for-58) from the field and 50 percent (6-for-12) while shooting well below their 73.5 percent season average at the charity stripe making only 17-for-28 for 60.7 percent.
Anderson's Dillard scored the first basket of the game at the 9:09 mark in the first quarter putting the Trojans in the lead for good. Anderson led by as many as eight in the first half while taking a six point lead into the half, 32-26. Floyd drained a 3-point basket with 3:10 remaining in the second quarter to give the Black and Gold their largest lead of the half. With the made 3-point basket, Floyd is two 3-point makes away from taking over the No. 6 spot on the Trojans all-time career 3-point made list. Lincoln Memorial answered back closing the gap to six going into the half, 32-26.
The Trojans went on a 6-0 run to start the second half pushing their lead to 12 on a made lay-up by Monroe. Anderson extended the lead to 17 after Davis's lay-up with 2:41 remaining in the third quarter. The Railsplitters kept chipping away and cut the lead to 13 with the final quarter to play.
Anderson put together a 7-0 run midway through the fourth quarter extending its lead to the largest of the game at 19, on a back-door layup by Davis. Lincoln Memorial cut the lead to 13 with 1:58 remaining getting as close as six with 17 seconds to go. Anderson's Jasmine Raynor made 1-of-2 foul shots with 15 ticks to go to increase the lead to seven. The Railsplitters scored again with eight seconds left to get within five on a made jumper by Brooke Taylor but ran out of time to complete the comeback.
"I am really proud of the way our players battled against a tough, physical LMU team," said Garrity. "It was important to our players that we win our last regular season home game in front of our great fans and students," noted Garrity. "This was a great win for our program."
Anderson goes on the road for its final regular season game, Saturday to face off with SAC foe Wingate. Tip-off is slated for 2 p.m.
