PHILADELPHIA – The Lincoln University women's basketball team tried to recover from a slow start on Saturday, but couldn't knock off Philadelphia University in a 56-52 loss at the Gallagher Center.
 
The Lady Lions (0-1) fell behind, 21-10, after a Samantha Morris jumper with 7:15 remaining in the opening half. Lincoln, which shot 9-for-41 (22 percent) in the first half, rallied and closed out the first half on a 12-4 run to cut the deficit to 25-22.
 
Lincoln trailed 29-22 after a Kristen Blye layup, but the Lady Lions rallied behind buckets by Courtney Lucas (Washington, DC/Friendship Collegiate Academy), Denyse Moore (Hampton, Va./Woodside HS) and Cynthia Johnson (Baltimore, MD/Baltimore Polytechnic Institute) to tie the game at 31 with 14:39 remaining.
 
However, the Lady Rams (1-0) used a 14-5 run during the next five minutes to grab a 45-36 advantage after a Morris jumper.
 
The Lady Lions, who shot 31 percent (11-of-36) in the second half, continued to chip away and cut the margin to 45-43 after a Moore layup with 6:34 left. But again Philadelphia answered and extended the lead to 51-44 after a bucket by Megan Finn with 2:50 remaining.
 
Lincoln pulled to within two, 54-52, after a pair of free throws by Tahlar McIntosh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Alvernia HS) with four seconds left, but Monica Schacker sank a pair of the free-throw line to seal the win.
 
Moore paced Lincoln with 15 points, three assists and three steals. Johnson, who played in the Lady Lions' volleyball loss earlier in the day, added nine points, three assists and three steals. Mfon Ekanem (Springdale, Md./C.H. Flowers HS) pulled down a team-high 11 rebounds.
 
Morris led the way for the Lady Rams with 15 points and Tori Arnao had a double-double by registering 11 points and a game-high 21 rebounds as Philadelphia shot 29 percent (17-of-58) from the floor.
 
The Lady Lions have their 2012-2013 home opener on Thursday, Nov. 15 at Manuel Rivero Gymnasium against the University of the Sciences. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m., and the game can be viewed through live stats at: http://www.sidearmstats.com/lincoln/wbball/scoreboard.aspx
 
Lady Lions Notebook: Lincoln is 6-5 in season openers since the 2002-2003 season…Two players, Cynthia Johnson (Baltimore, MD/Baltimore Polytechnic Institute) and Briana McKellery (Odenton, MD/Arundel HS), did double duty on Saturday by playing in Lincoln's volleyball and women's basketball games…In the 30 games Moore has played at Lincoln, she has scored in double figures 21 times.