LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. – Denyse Moore (Hampton, Va./Woodside HS) came off the bench to pour in a career-high 33 points, but it wasn't enough as the Lincoln University women's basketball team suffered a heartbreaking 74-71 loss in double overtime against Bloomsburg on Saturday afternoon at Manuel Rivero Gymnasium.
 
"Poor free-throw shooting (19-of-44 for 43 percent) was our achilles heel today," Lincoln head coach Jessica Kern said. "Despite the loss, I was very proud of the girls and how hard they worked against a preseason Top-25 team. Bloomsburg is very well-coached and they came in averaging 20 3-pointers a game. Today, they shot 24 3-pointers, but made just three."
 
Moore was 12-of-31 shooting and 9-of-12 from the free-throw line. She also added 10 rebounds and one assist to pace the Lincoln offense. Cynthia Johnson (Baltimore, MD/Baltimore Polytechnic Institute) finished with 11 points, six assists, four steals and four rebounds as the Lady Lions were 24-of-77 from the floor for 31 percent.
 
Lincoln (0-3) started slow as the Huskies raced out to an 11-5 advantage after a bucket by Lauren Ellis, but Lincoln erased the deficit and grabbed a 15-14 lead after a free throw by Moore with 10:31 left in the opening half.
 
Bloomsburg (2-0) answered with an 8-0 run, capped by a three-point play by Danielle Derr with 9:22 remaining, but Lincoln rallied and grabbed a 23-22 advantage after a jumper by Johnson with 6:01 left in the half.
 
Neither team could grab a lead of more than three points in the final six minutes of the first half as there were two ties and a pair of lead changes as Bloomsburg took a 34-32 lead into the break.
 
Bloomsburg pushed the advantage to 41-36 with 15:54 remaining in regulation. However, Lincoln answered and used a 12-5 run, capped by a free throw by Krystal Fluellen (New York, N.Y./Richard Green HS) to give the Lady Lions a 48-46 lead with 11:02 left.
 
With the score tied at 50 with 8:51 remaining, Lincoln scored the next six points and led, 65-50, with 7:25 left, but the Huskies slowed rallied and cut the deficit to 59-57 after a free throw by Marla Simmons with 2:22 left.
 
A free throw by Mfon Ekanem (Springdale, Md./C.H. Flowers HS), who had three points and seven boards, gave Lincoln a 60-58 advantage with 16 seconds left, but Dana Wieller sank a pair at the charity stripe with two seconds remaining to send the game into overtime tied at 60.
 
In the first extra period, Bloomsburg led 67-65 after a free throw by Simmons, who finished with six points, with 30 seconds left, but a Moore putback with one second remaining tied the game at 67 to force double overtime.
 
The Hukies took a 73-70 lead after a pair of free throws by Simmons, but Lisa Saunders (Hampton, VA/Hampton HS) sank one of two at the charity stripe to cut the margin to 73-71 with 1:19 remaining. A free throw by Lauren Ellis gave Bloomsburg a 74-71 and Lincoln couldn't recover in the final 20 seconds.
 
Ellis finished with 18 points and eight boards, while Wieller had 12 points and seven rebounds. Catherine Noack chipped in with 10 points and six boards as the Huskies were 20-of-57 shooting for 35 percent.
 
The Lady Lions take some time off for Thanksgiving Break, but return to action 7 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 24 in Baltimore, Md., against NCAA Division I Coppin State.
 
Lady Lions Notebook: Denyse Moore (Hampton, Va./Woodside HS) broke her career mark of 22 points, which she set on Thursday in a loss agains the University of the Sciences and was just two points shy of tying the school record held by Sha'nice Nesmith, who finished with 35 points against Moravian in 2007…This was the third straight game where Lincoln shot more than 70 shots…Lincoln held a 60-54 advantage on rebounds, including a 34-15 advantage on the defensive boards…There were a combined 70 fouls and 74 free throws attempted.