Lincoln Lions Defeats Livingstone Blue Bears to Advance to CIAA Quarterfinals

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina -- The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA) Women's Basketball Championship Tournament saw Lincoln (Pa.) University defeat the Blue Bears of Livingstone College 76-58, in the second game of the tournament at the Bojangles' Coliseum on Tuesday.

The Lions of Lincoln (Pa.) University, the No. 3 seed in the Northern Division, continued their impressive run in 2017-18 improving to 17-10 and will face No. 2 seed in the Southern Division, Johnson C. Smith, on Thursday at the Spectrum Center. Livingstone closes the book on their season at 6-21.

Shahra Madison (Chesapeake, Va./Norfolk Collegiate School (Chesapeake College)) led the Lions with 16 points (7-9 FG) and eight rebounds. Brianna Logan (Lumberton, N.J./Rancocas Valley (Siena)) added 13 points while Shecquan Bailey (Salisbury, Md./Snow Hill (Baltimore City C.C.)) chipped in ten points, five assists and five steals. DeeDee Irwin (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville Area) had three three-pointers for nine points.

Taylor Perkins led Livingstone with 26 points and 13 rebounds. I'Keya Bland added 10 points.

Both teams had to shake off their CIAA Tournament jitters as Lincoln led Livingstone 10-9 after the opening 10 minutes of action in a cold shooting first quarter. The teams were a combined 6-34 (17.6%) from the floor.

The back-and-forth battle continued as Livingstone converted 4-4 from the charity stripe to take a 13-10 lead just a minute into the quarter. Lincoln battled back to take an 18-15 advantage following an Irwin three-pointer midway through the quarter.

The Blue Bears took the advantage back from the Lions on a Taylor Perkins jumper with 2:54 remaining. Livingstone would take a 27-25 lead into the break.

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Lincoln would take hold of the contest in the second half outscoring Livingstone 25-12 in the third quarter. The Lions used an 8-3 run to take the lead, 33-30, and never relinquish.

The Blue Bears attempted to chip away at the deficit but the Lions answered at every turn as Michelle Fitzgerald (Baltimore, Md./Md. Academy of Tech & Health Science (N.C. A & T)) gave the Lions a double-figure lead into the final quarter, 50-39.

The Lions maintained their double-figure lead in the fourth quarter. Blue Bears' Taylor Perkins scored the final nine points for Livingstone but was not enough as Lincoln's lead was too large.

The game was a tale of two halves - shooting wise for the Lions, who made just 25.7% (9-35) of their shots in the first two quarters. Things turned around in the second half as the Lincoln shooters found their mark, making 58% (18-31) of their shots in the final two quarters. Lincoln also took advantage of 24 Blue Bear turnovers, scoring 32 points off them. Lincoln's bench also outscored the Livingstone bench 26-7.

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