- Posted in All University
- Category: AthleticsCampus News
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, Pa. - The Lincoln University women's basketball team, winners of the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's North Division and Tournament, were given an eight seed in the Atlantic Region of the 2022 NCAA Division II Women's Basketball Tournament. The Lions will be the national tournament 5 p.m. Friday against top seed, and host, Glenville State College. The Pioneers were the last unbeaten team in Division II before falling in the Mountain East Conference tournament to the University of Charleston.
GAME NOTES | WATCH | LIVE STATS
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
The Lincoln University women's basketball team will be making its first-ever appearance in the NCAA DIvision II Women's Basketball tournament. The game marks the first time Lincoln plays Glenville State, the regular season champions of the Mountain East Conference. Lincoln is 2-0 against MEC teams.
#ALLFORONE
The Lincoln women's basketball team has been playing in memory of recent graduate DeAshia Young, who tragically passed away Feb. 4. Young was a key cog of the record-setting 2019-20 team.
CIAA CHAMPIONS
The Lincoln University women's basketball team claimed their first-ever CIAA Northern Division Championship and CIAA Tournament championship. The Lions won the three games in the tournament by an average of 15 points.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Fifth-year senior Bryanna Brown (New York, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin) was named the CIAA Player of the Year, the CIAA Tournament MVP, and is a member of the All-CIAA Backcourt. It's back-to-back Player of the Year honors for the LU women's basketball team as Kwanza Murray earned the honor following the 2019-20 season. The CIAA canceled the 2020-21 season.
Brown, a career 1,000-point scorer, was named the CIAA Tournament MVP after averaging 22 points, including a team-high 28 points in the championship game.
SWISS ARMY KNIFE
Junior Jade Young (Philadelphia, Pa./Abington Friends School) has been stuffing the stat sheet all season for the Lions. Young was named to the all-tournament team after averaging 12 points and 10 rebounds with 11 assists and 10 steals. She finished second in the CIAA with 3.7 assists and in assist to turnover ratio, while being ninth in the league with 6.4 rebounds.
VARIABLE STARTERS
Mainly due to injuries, Lincoln has rolled out 13 different starting lineups this season. The lineup of Jaleesa Lanier (Easton, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic), Bryanna Brown (New York, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin), Jade Young (Philadelphia, Pa./Abington Friends School), Shantel Cheeks (Washington D.C./Rock Creek Christian Academy (Harcum College)), and Kryshell Gordy (Chester, Pa./Ursuline Academy (Del.)) has started the most of any quintet, starting seven games this season.
While her contributions don't exactly show up in the number categories, Lincoln is now 15-3 with Lanier starting at point guard.
TRANSITION POINTS
As a team, the Lions are at their best when they can gain points in transition. The Lions are 17-1 when they register at least 16 fast-break points and just 5-6 when they fail to record 16 points.
BIG SPARK
Joy "Big Spark" Morton has been the team's emotional heartbeat all season long. When a play is to be made, offensively or defensively, Morton is usually somewhere involved. Her five free throws without a miss in the quarterfinal win over Winston-Salem State was a Lincoln CIAA Tournament record.
NEEDED BREAK
After winning the CIAA Tournament last week, the Lions used the time off to get healty as only six players were available for all three games. At times during the three-game run, Lincoln had seven players available.
SCOUTING GLENVILLE STATE
Glenville State College brings the top-scoring offense into the tournament, averaging 97.1 points per game. Primarily due to its robust scoring, the Pioneers are also leading Division II in scoring margin – besting opponents by 34.1 points per game. Their scoring margin is tops nationally by almost 14 points.
The Pioneers come at teams in waves with 11 players averaging double-digit minutes and no one playing more than 22.8 minutes. Glenville State typically substitutes five players at a time and will use its full-court pressure defense.
Mountain East Conference Player of the Year, Re'Shawna Stone, leads the team with 102 assists while averaging 17.1 points and 4.3 rebounds. Junior guard Zakiyah Winfield leads the team with 17.8 points and 7.0 rebounds while contributing 70 assists and 55 steals.
Two other players, Dazha Congleton (11.5 ppg) and Taychaun Hubbard (11.4 ppg) are averaging double-figures for the high-paced, high-powered offense. GSC has taken 584 more shots than its opponents. In contrast, Lincoln has attempted only 197 more shots than its opponent.
