GREENWOOD – Freshman guard
Quadaija Langley scored 23 points as the Lander Bearcats beat Lincoln Memorial 57-45 Wednesday night at Horne Arena, giving
Stephanie Gehlhausen her first victory as Lander head women's basketball coach.
The Bearcats improved to 1-2 on the season while the Railsplitters fell to 2-1.
Langley made 10 of her first 12 shots from the floor and wound up 10-for-16 before fouling out in the final quarter.
Tyasia Freeman added 16 points for Lander, making five of nine shots from the floor and six of eight free throws.
Tanyia Gordon paced the Bearcats with 10 rebounds, all on the defensive end. She also paced Lander with four assists.
Kayla Sanders added six rebounds while leading the Bearcats with three steals.
Lauren Flowers led Lincoln Memorial with 14 points, Alexa Smiddy scored 13, and Saquita Joyner added 10. Flowers led the visitors with eight rebounds while Jordan Maney dished out seven assists.
The Bearcats built a 9-2 lead in the game's first four minutes. Freeman converted a three-point play, Langley drove nearly the length of the court for a layup, Freeman made two free throws, and Langley sprinted around a screen for another layup.
Langley's 3-pointer from the left wing was Lander's only points the rest of the opening quarter as the Bearcats led 12-10 going into the second period.
Langley's driving layups and Freeman's inside buckets kept the Bearcats out front in the second quarter. Lincoln Memorial led only once in the period on Zakiyah Moss's 3-pointer from the left corner, putting the visitors ahead 21-20 with 3:06 left.
Langley scored three times while Freeman added a pair of baskets as the Bearcats led 25-20 at the break. Langley (13) and Freeman (10) scored 23 of Lander's 25 points in the first half.
Joyner's second layup in a row gave the Railsplitters their only lead of the second half at 27-25 with just under seven minutes left in the third.
The Bearcats regained the lead in less than a minute as
Anne Secrest made a game-tying layup off a transition pass from
Cory Santoro, and Santoro pump faked and then side-stepped a defender for a 3-pointer from the right wing, giving Lander a 30-27 advantage. The hosts would not trail again.
Langley continued to assert herself, driving for a layup, zipping passes under the basket to Secrest and Freeman for lay-ins, and then driving around the right side for another driving layup as the Bearcats were up 38-29 with two minutes to go in the third.
The run continued as Langley grabbed a loose ball after Freeman blocked a shot under the Lincoln Memorial basket and drove the length of the floor for a layup. Langley added two free throws as the Bearcats outscored the visitors 17-2 over the last 6:45 of the third to lead 42-29 going into the final quarter.
Sanders made a reverse layup off a pass from Freeman and Langley hit yet another layup as Lander led 46-31 with 7:35 to go.
The Bearcats went more than six minutes without scoring, missing five shots and committing four turnovers. Smiddy's 3 from the left corner pulled the Railsplitters within 46-39 with 1:44 left.
Freeman's hook shot with 1:11 to go ended Lander's scoring drought and the lead was 48-39.
Freeman, Santoro, Secrest and
Vashae Rideout made two free throws apiece as the Bearcats ended the game by making nine of 10 from the stripe.
