- Posted in All University
- Category: AthleticsCampus News
LINCOLN UNIVERSITY, PA – The last time the Lincoln University women's basketball team played in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association, they walked off with a loss to Winston-Salem State.
The Lions exorcised those demons with the 70-66 victory over Winston-Salem State Tuesday in the quarterfinals of the 2022 CIAA Tournament. For the last three weeks, Lincoln has been playing in the honor of former player DeAshia Young.
With her memory on their hearts and minds, led by CIAA Player of the Year Bryanna Brown (New York, N.Y./Bishop Loughlin), LU wasn't going to allow the Rams to pull out another upset win in the tournament. After struggling for the majority of the game, Brown scored 16 of her team-high 20 points in the final eight minutes. A couple of assists got her going and then once the first three-pointer went in – it was bar the door because Brown was barging through.
Lincoln built a nine-point lead early in the fourth quarter, and just went it appeared the Lions were ready to put the game away, Brown picked up her fourth foul. It seemingly sparked Winston-Salem State as the Rams trimmed the lead to one with 3:14 remaining.
But have no fear, the CIAA Player of the Year had returned to the court, promptly connected on a three-pointer and a layup. The Lions sealed the game by going seven of eight from the foul line down the stretch.
The Orange and Blue raced out to an 11-0 lead in the first quarter and led by six at the end of the first 10 minutes. The Rams carried the momentum over the second quarter, getting to within one several times, but each time Lincoln had an answer. First, it was a layup from junior Kania Pollock (Queens, N.Y./The Mary Louis Academy), next it was a layup by freshman Jaleesa Lanier (Easton, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic), which sparked a 9-2 run. The spurt was capped by a junior Jade Young (Philadelphia, Pa./Abington Friends School) three-pointer with 4:34 in the half and LU took the seven-point lead into halftime.
Once again, it looked as Lincoln was ready to run and hide from the Rams as the lead was nine with 2:38 remaining. However, once again, Winston-Salem State had a run in them. They closed the quarter on an 11-2 run to pull even for the first time since the game was scoreless.
Young recorded her fourth double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds, while freshman Jaleesa Lanier (Easton, Pa./Bethlehem Catholic) played the entire 40 minutes for the short-handed Lions and finished with 11 points.
Lincoln (20-7) returns to the court 2 p.m. Friday to face the winner of Thursday's Livingstone/Johnson C. Smith contest.
