ETTRICK, Va. – The Commonwealth of Virginia's motto may be that "It's For Lovers" but The Lincoln University of Pennsylvania women's basketball program did not receive any of that compassion from the home squad, nearly erasing a 14-point deficit but never led the entire game.
 
The Lions had owned the series as of late coming into the night, having won its past seven games against the Trojans dating back to 2018.

What You Need to Know:
 

• Score: Virginia State 66 | Lincoln (PA) 64

 

• Records: Lincoln-PA (15-7, 9-3 CIAA) | Virginia State (9-13, 5-7 CIAA)

 

• Location: Ettrick, Virginia – Multipurpose Center

 

• Winning Streak: Virginia State (W1) | Lincoln (PA)'s Last Win: January 26, 2023 (76-58)

 
Lincoln (PA) Top Performers:
 

• The trio of Anyssa Fields (Long Branch, N.J./Long Branch), Kania Pollock (Queens, N.Y./The Mary Louis Academy), and D'Ayzha Atkinson (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) all shared the Lions' scoring title for the night with each contributing ten points.

 

• Fields fell painfully short of a double-double as she snagged nine rebounds as well as setting a season-high with four assists and joining Ciani Montgomery (Philadelphia, Pa./West Catholic Prep) as the only LUPA student-athletes with multiple steals (2).

 

• Maya Madison Walker (Brooklyn, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) was a force to be reckoned with down low, producing career-bests of ten rebounds and all three of the team's blocks to go along with six points.

 

• Rayniah Walker (Cheltenham, Md./Bullis School) logged a couple of season benchmarks including points (9), rebounds (4), field goals (3), and treys (2).

 

• Shaye Smith (Philadelphia, Pa./Life Center) saw the most court time of her debut season to date, playing 22 minutes with five boards, four points, and an assist to show for it.

 
Notes:
 

• 66 points was the fewest allowed by the Lions in a losing effort this season.

 

• Virginia State managed just five offensive rebounds on the evening, the lowest output by a Lincoln opponent in 2022-23, and its 25 total boards is the second-smallest number surrendered behind the teams' first matchup less than two weeks ago.

 

• LU's plus-19 rebounding margin was the highest versus a conference foe on the year and second-best overall, however, its minus-8 in the turnover department was its second-worst in CIAA play so far.

 
Next:
 

• It's the annual Play 4 Kay contest on Thursday night versus the Virginia Union Panthers at 5:30 p.m. as all fans are encouraged to wear their finest pink attire.