LMU Athletics
HARROGATE – Despite not playing a game in 27 days and only having eight players available, there was absolutely no sign of rust from the Lady Railsplitters as they scored a season-high 91 points, while knocking down a team-record 20 threes in the game. Three players scored in double-figures led by Irelynn Davisson’s game-high 27 points as LMU knocked off Mars Hill 91-47 Saturday afternoon.
Davisson exploded from the opening tip, going for 14 points in the quarter to lead all scorers and outscore the Lions. In a tight contest early on, the Lady Railsplitters went on an 11-2 run, highlighted by two three pointers from Davisson and another from Lindsay Proffitt to push their lead to 18-8. After Mars Hill scored a bucket, LMU ended the quarter on a 9-2 run, again with two three-pointers from Davisson and another from Proffitt to take a 27-12 lead after the first period.
The second quarter started with another Proffitt three-pointer just 12 seconds in. In between layups from Shaquala Walton and Mikayla Kuehne, Proffitt knocked down two more from behind the arc to increase the Lady Railsplitter lead to 40-17. Kassidy Kenny provided a spark off the bench, scoring five points in the quarter, including a buzzer beating layup to give Lincoln Memorial the 48-26 advantage heading into the break.
The Lady Railsplitters struggled to get shots to fall in the third quarter, but that didn’t stop them from shutting down the Lions, holding them to just 12 points in the quarter and just 20% shooting. Lincoln Memorial had a 6-0 run in the middle of the quarter to push their lead to 58-31 before the Lions responded with a 7-0 run to end the quarter to cut their deficit to just 20 after three quarters.
LMU responded in a big way, starting the quarter on a 12-0 run, with two three-pointers from Proffitt and one each from Davisson and Kuehne. The Lions got three points back, but again the Lady Railsplitters answered back in a big way, as they went on a 15-0 run, including seven points from Davisson and threes from Davisson, Kenny and Walton to push their lead up to 85-41. Davisson would add two more from distance in the final 1:30 of action, with the record-setting three coming with 25 seconds to play. The 91-47 victory was the largest margin of victory on the year and largest since a 45-point win in 2017, also over Mars Hill.
Davisson and Proffitt both exploded in their first game since mid-December. Davisson scored a career-high 27 points on 10-12 shooting, and 7-9 from distance. Proffitt scored a career-high 25 points on 9-11 shooting, and was also 7-9 from behind the arc. Kuehne added a double-double with 14 points, 11 rebounds, and five assists. Shaquala Walton contributd eight points and six assists, while Geovana Rios came off the bench and pulled down a career-high 11 boards. Lauren Flowers steadied the offense all game with five assists and eight points. Kenny came off the bench to score a season-high eight points, knocking down two three-pointers.
The seven three-pointers hit by both Davisson and Proffitt were one off of the individua record in a game, and represented a career-high for each.
“Davisson has just been putting the work in and it showed tonight as she did a great job letting the game come to her and taking what the defense gave her,” said head coach Devan Carter. “Once she got going, our team did a great job of finding her.”
As a team, the Lady Railsplitters shot 58.6% from the field and 55.6% from behind the arc, both of which were season-highs. Despite being down to only Kuehne to play in the post, Lincoln Memorial still outrebounded the Lions 42-33. The Lady Railsplitters also dished out 25 assists on the afternoon.
“We shared the ball really well with 25 assists on 34 makes and today was the best job all season of getting great shots,” remarked Carter.
The defense was suffocating all afternoon, holding the Lions to 27% shooting from the field and 12% from behind the arc. LMU forced 12 turnovers, scoring 23 points off those turnovers and blocked three Lion shots.
The Lady Railsplitters are now on a three-game winning streak and brings their record to 7-5 overall and 5-4 in SAC play.
“We will learn from today and clean things up and get ready for a good Limestone team on Monday,” added Carter.
The Lady Railsplitters will be back in action Monday evening, as they welcome in Limestone in a rescheduled game. Tip-off is scheduled for 5:30 PM in Tex Turner Arena.