CHARLOTTE, North Carolina -- The Lincoln University used a solid overall performance on both ends of the court, and converted 21 of 25 free throws, as the Lady Lions advanced in the 2015 CIAA Tournament Quarterfinals, with a 59-51 win over Virginia Union University.
With the win, The Lincoln improves to 20-7 overall, while Virginia Union ends their season with a 9-18 overall record.
Virginia Union was able to get out to the early 7-0 lead by the 17:10 mark, before a timeout by The Lincoln.
The timeout would settle the Lady Lions down and a Zephrah Pam layup would finally get The Lincoln on the board at 7-2.
By the first media timeout, The Lady Panthers of Virginia Union would hold a 9-4 lead. They would increase that lead to 11-4, before the Lady Lions would answer with a 12-4 run of their own to erase the Panther lead and surge ahead, 16-15.
By the 7:45 mark of the first half the Lady Lions had extended their lead to 18-15 on a pair of free throws Zephrah Pam.
The Lincoln Lady Lions were able to keep the Lady Panthers at bay, and would finish the half outscoring the Lady Panthers 11-10, to take a 29-25 lead into the locker room at the half.
Virginia Union would start the second half just like they began the game, with a quick 11-4 run to overtake the Lady Lions at 36-33 with 13:45 left to play.
With the game tied at 36-36 with 13:33 left to play, the Lady Lions of The Lincoln University would dig down deep on the defensive end of the court, and the results were a 13-3 run over the next five minutes, to give them some breathing room at 49-39.
Coming down the stretch The Lady Lions would rely on their free throw shooting to seal the game, as they would convert 8 of 10 free throws over the final six minutes to lock the game away for the 59-51 win.
The Lincoln University Lady Lions were led in scoring by Zephrah Pam, who scored a game high 17 points, while also pulling down 10 rebounds. Amani Clark finished with 12 points, four steals and three rebounds.
Virginia Union was led by Lady Walker, who scored 12 points and pulled down a game-high 17 rebounds and five blocked shots. Trylanda Jennings added 12 points four rebounds and three assists.
The Lincoln University will now advance to the CIAA Tournament Semi-Finals at 1:00pm on Friday.
QUOTES:
The Lincoln University Head Coach, Jessica Kern
"This is new territory for us. The game tonight was a game of jitters, I will say that. Once you have a bye, the kids come in on the highest of highs, and we needed some time to settle in."
"I remember my rookie season, and everyone saying that there is nothing like the CIAA. You got that right! Our freshmen have gone through the good, bad and the ugly, and have now grown into seniors. This is really emotional for my seniors because they were there from day one. They have been through the growth. And I believe our freshmen now have taken heed to that, and have a level of respect from 1 to 15. It's very encouraging as a coach to see that. "
"We have done this through a whole lot of motivation and inspiring and all of that fun stuff. We have to do it the traditional route at the Lincoln. We are not in the position where we can get a lot of division I transfers or junior college players. So when we take high school freshmen, it's really a lot of skill development, and turning them from girls to women, along with a real sense of family."
Virginia Union University Head Coach, Barvenia Wooten-Cherry
"I would first like to thank Coach Taylor for all that he's done for the athletic program at Virginia union and supporting our team."
"I thought we started well. We were aggressive and I thought we went at them well. Our team down the stretch got tight. We had a lot of missed shots. We only made 18 of 63 shots."
"And regardless of the defensive effort that we attempted to make tonight, we got beat inside the paint. We were able to contain their outside shooters, but inside the pain was the difference in the game."
BOX SCORE
COURTESY CIAA MEDIA RELATIONS
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