Two years ago the Lincoln University women's basketball team played their home opener against Wilmington University and put up over 90 points in a 96-92 win over the Wildcats. Fast forward to Tuesday night and the Lions again had their home opener against the Wildcats and again put up over 90 points as the handed Wilmington a 93-80 loss at Manuel Rivero Hall.
The Lions improve to 2-3 with the win while the Wildcats fall to 2-4. Lincoln's 90-plus point performance was their first since that home opening game in 2015-16 against the Wildcats.
Michelle Fitzgerald (Baltimore, Md./Md. Academy of Tech & Health Science (N.C. A & T)) recorded a double-double with 21 points (5-10 FDG, 11-13 FT) and 10 rebounds to lead five Lincoln players in double figures. The senior forward also had a game high four steals.
Shecquan Bailey (Salisbury, Md./Snow Hill (Baltimore City C.C.)) came off the bench to pump in 14 points and dish out five assists while
Teira Pendleton (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Polytech) added 13 points, mainly on the strength of a 7-10 shooting performance from the free throw line.
McKenzie Spencer (Richmond, Va./Henrico) and
Shahra Madison (Chesapeke, Va./Norfolk Collegiate School (Chesapeke College)) rounded out the Lions double figure scorers with 12 and 11 points respectively. Madison also added eight rebounds.
Brianna Logan (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley (Siena)) dished out a career-high eight assists with only one turnover on the night.
LaShyra Williams led the Wildcats with 21 points while Emma Matthews and Jadyn Whitsitt added 18 and 13 points respectively.
The game turned out to be a lot closer than the score appeared to be despite the Lions leading by double digits throughout much of the second and third quarters holding a 21-point lead late in the second quarter and a 20-point lead in the third. The Lions led by 13, 72-59 heading into the final quarter when the Wildcat defense picked it up a notch holding the Lions without a field goal for the first 4:36 of the quarter, while their offense was putting together a 14-3 run to cut Lincoln's lead to just two points. Bailey's jumper at the 5:24 mark broke the field goal drought before the Wildcats closed the gap to one at 78-77 with 4:33 left in the game.
Bailey triggered a 7-1 flourish by the Lions to push their lead back up to seven 85-78with 21:53 left. A Williams' layup with 2:43 to go cut Lincoln's lead to five but the Lions scored the final eight points of the game to pull away in the final two minutes and earn the 13-point win.
It was the Lions strong first half shooting that put them into position to win the game, hitting seven three point field goals while shooting 53% from behind the arc and 47.4% for the half. Nine different players made at least one field goal in the half for the Lions. After the Wildcats scored the opening basket of the game, Lincoln ran off 11 straight points and remained firmly in control of the game until the Wildcats clawed their way back into the game in the fourth quarter.
Lincoln finished the game shooting 45.5% (30-66) from the field and 7-17 from three point range. The Lions also shot 78.8% from the free throw line (26-33) The Lions held a decisive 49-29 advantage on the glass, including a 26-8 mark on the offensive glass.
The Lions return to action on Thursday, November 30, 2017 when they host Cheyney University for their annual "Battle of the First". Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m.
